The Scottish Government has announced testing for all residents in care homes who are showing coronavirus symptoms.
The move comes after the National Records of Scotland (NRS) reported almost a quarter of all registered deaths from Covid-19 occurred in care homes.
Nicola Sturgeon said the first residents in care homes who show symptoms of the virus are already being tested.
However, she announced during Wednesday’s daily press briefing that the government will now shift to test all care home residents showing Covid-19 symptoms.
The First Minister said while the move is “not strictly necessary” for “the clinical management of cases in care homes”, it is important for the confidence of relatives, care home staff and the wider public.
The residents of care homes matter every bit as much to us as people in the community or in hospital – First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
She continued: “The guidance to care homes is already very clear in terms of isolation and social distancing and that remains the most important factor in making sure that we are managing and preventing infection in care homes.”
Ms Sturgeon stressed that residents of care homes “matter every bit as much to us as people in the community or in hospital”.
She said she “does not have evidence” that if more staff and residents had been tested in care homes earlier it would have made a difference to the rate of infections and deaths.
Interim chief medical officer, Dr Gregor Smith, said once the first resident in a care home tests positive for coronavirus, the strategy for managing the outbreak does not change, no matter how many residents are tested.
He said there is no reason to test more residents once the first positive Covid-19 case has been detected.
He added shielding the most vulnerable has to be the “absolute backbone” in care homes’ virus strategy, along with maximising infection prevention and control measures.
Scottish Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, said the government is striving to make sure care homes have the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need. She said issues to do with PPE are being taken seriously and steps have been taken to “provide further assurances”.
There are 433 care homes across the country which have recorded a case of coronavirus since the outbreak began.
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