Nicola Sturgeon names bad weather among problems facing Covid-19 testing amid fears of winter spike

Nicola Sturgeon has blamed bad weather as one of the three major challenges causing problems with coronavirus testing in the last few days
AFP via Getty Images
Rebecca Speare-Cole26 August 2020

Nicola Sturgeon said bad weather has been one of the three major challenges causing problems with coronavirus testing in the last few days.

Scots, who have been trying to arrange a Covid-19 test via the online portal, have faced a raft of issues, including being directed to centres in England or Northern Ireland.

The regional testing centre in Edinburgh had to close due to high winds, the First Minister said on Wednesday.

It comes amid looming fears of a second coronavirus peak in the UK over the winter months as temperatures plunge and conditions worsen.

Responding to Stuart McMillan MSP, Ms Sturgeon gave a further update on testing at First Minister’s Questions.

Ms Sturgeon at First Minister's Questions
Getty Images

She said there had been “three challenges with testing which will interrelate”.

“We have had some technical problems with the UK Government booking system, which we are working with the Department of Health and Social Care in England to resolve," Ms Sturgeon said.

Warnings have been issued as Storm Ellen moves in from the Atlantic
Getty Images

“That includes situations where people in Scotland are being referred to testing centres that are a long way away from them and sometimes outside of Scotland and we hope that issue will be resolved.

“We also had yesterday a weather-related problem, the regional testing centre in Edinburgh, for example, had to close because of high winds, which hopefully will be resolved quickly.”

Bad weather has caused problems for coronavirus testing
Getty Images

She continued: “The more fundamental issue – which is one we’ve always known about and been planning for and these plans have been activated this week – is the peaks in demand.”

She said recent analysis showed the rise in demand was related to parents who had concerns about their children having coughs or colds.

Capacity will be increased, she said, with additional mobile testing units and drive-through facilities provided.

Rhoda Grant MSP asked about people in remote areas who were having difficulty accessing home testing kits.

The First Minister said: “The home testing kits are delivered through the UK Government system and there are issues with longer delivery times in remote areas which is why we are also increasing the number of mobile units that are available.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in