Image source, Chas

Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor has backed a new campaign supporting children and families in isolation under the current lockdown.

The Perth-born actor has sent a video message supporting the Children's Hospices Across Scotland (Chas) Share Your Joy campaign.

He asked people to "get your geek on" and upload uplifting messages to those affected.

The campaign encourages people to share stories about their favourite sci-fi, fantasy, cartoon or musical hero, by digging out their favourite "geeky" T-shirt.

Image source, Facebook

Facebook has added a wave of new video-calling features to WhatsApp, Messenger and its main app, following increased demand for social video calling.

New Messenger Rooms will let people start group video chats that can be joined by up to 50 people.

The company told the BBC it released the features earlier than planned due to the coronavirus lockdown.

While the new features launched for some users in the UK yesterday, it will take several weeks for the update to reach all Facebook members.

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Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

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Prof Jason Leitch has been answering listeners' questions on Off The Ball.

Q: In the Netherlands, they are planning for the resumption of football for under-15s. Is that likely any time soon in Scotland?

A: As part of a staged return, with all of the public health principles in place, that is going to be easier than staging games for Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts. I can definitely see something like that happening quicker than on a large scale.

Q: When will I be able to visit the gym again?

A: It's all about adapting to the situation as we try to keep a lid on the virus. Gyms will not be among the first set of businesses to open when the restrictions can be eased and they certainly won't be jam-packed when they do. When it's safe, I anticipate physical distancing, lots of hand-washing, changing rooms may be off limits.

Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

Prof Jason Leitch, the Scottish Government's national clinical director, has once again been answering listeners' questions on Off The Ball.

Q: Can it be right that we allow the "essential" purchase of alcohol and cigarettes but prohibit sport and limit physical activity?

A: This is about public health, so individual behaviour matters on a population level. If I drive myself to Ben Lomond this afternoon and walk up without meeting anyone and don't break my ankle then that's pretty much zero risk. But the problem is if we let everyone out to do whatever they want to do, we know the virus will spread and people will die.

Q: Can my cleaner come round if we maintain social distancing?

A: No, that is not acceptable. There can be no mixing of households at the moment.

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Among those qualifying for the expansion of Covid-19 testing as key workers in the private sector and "essential services" are:

• Staff delivering services to the NHS or contractors working with it and those providing social care to protect and care for the most vulnerable and within the social care system
• Staff with face-to-face roles in residential institutions with people in the care of the state, such as prisons, and those working on critical national infrastructure and highest priority defence staff
• Essential workers in critical national infrastructure fundamental for safety and security - and life-line services, including defence, environmental protection, animal health and welfare, the funeral industry and food and medicine supply chains
• Staff providing child care for key workers, plus public transport workers, postal services, financial services, supermarket workers, construction and essential public services, court and Crown Office staff
• Staff involved in volunteering, or in nationally or locally significant industry important to economic sustainability and growth

Click the link for a full list of key workers and how to be tested., external

Image source, Getty Images

Testing for Covid-19 has been expanded in Scotland to key workers not directly employed in the health and social care sectors.

Drive-through testing sites at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, plus the University of the Highlands and Islands campus in Inverness, will now allow symptomatic key workers and their household members to know whether or not they have the virus.

The sites, run by private sector firms on behalf of the UK government, supplement existing testing at local NHS facilities that continue to give priority to health and social care workers.

The expansion of testing is "to ensure those critical to the sustained functioning of the economy and public services have access to testing that enables them to continue their vital work".

Image source, Getty Images

Garden centres are being urged to set up home delivery services after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close their doors.

Scotland's rural affairs and natural environment minister Mairi Gougeon has written to bosses of such businesses, urging them to consider a mail order service for selling plants and seeds.

While some garden centres are doing this, she said many others had shut as a result of Covid-19.

“It is important for people’s mental health to have the ability to be out in their gardens and do work and support their local plant nurseries," said Ms Gougeon.

"It is also recognising that for a number of garden centres and plant nurseries this would probably be their busiest time of year normally and we want to try to encourage them to think about other ways of doing their business while adhering to all the social distancing guidelines."

Image source, SNS

The UK government plans to set up the first of a series of regular meetings involving senior medical directors of the major sports this week in a bid to return to action as soon as possible.

The move was described by a source close to the plans as a "quickening of the pace" and intended to help sport resume "within weeks", if progress was made.

The Chief Medical Officer's staff would also be involved in the weekly meetings, and the Prime Minister has been briefed on the plan.

The specifics of each sport would be examined by health experts to see what protocols would be needed to get each up and running as soon as possible, meaning some would return sooner than others.

Testing, social distancing, hygiene standards and strict limits on the numbers of people allowed in venues would all be debated.

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Good Morning Scotland - Weekend
BBC Radio Scotland

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The rest of the world may never know the full details of China's response to the Covid-19 virus, the woman heading the UK government's new research group into the outbreak that began in Wuhan tells BBC Radio Scotland.

Prof Jane Duckett, from Glasgow University, explains that the investigation will have two main strands.

• To probe 1500-2000 policy documents released by the Chinese government that map their response to containing the disease.
• To look at social media during that period and how the public were responding

Prof Duckett points out that Chinese early response was to "cover up what was happening" before going public in January and putting in place a very strict lockdown in Wuhan and the province, around the size of the UK, surrounding the city.

"There are some things that we may never find out and some things are very difficult to identify," she adds.

Good Morning Scotland - Weekend
BBC Radio Scotland

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UK firms are "ready to go" with making medical gowns for the NHS to ease the shortage of protective equipment, Make It British founder Kate Hills tells BBC Radio Scotland.

Only one manufacturer in Britain - Forfar's Don & Low - can make the fabric and Ms Hills says there has been "quite a lot of red tape to get through".

There was a need to mobilise many companies capable of making the final products because "we don't have huge factories like China" to produce millions of gowns, but "we are going in the right direction".

"It is quite complicated in that there has to be quite a bit of certification done, particularly on the material that's used for the gowns," Ms Hills says. "The actual stitching of them is quite straightforward and, now that UK manufacturers have a proved prototype for that, then they are ready to go and can make these gowns quite quickly.

"We do have a UK textile manufacturing base here. I think the issue is the government has lost sight of who they are and where they are and we don't want them to dip into this during a crisis and turn back to China when this is all over."

Justice Minister Humza Yousaf explains on The Nine why it is difficult for police officers to keep their distance in certain situations.

Travel writers are finding ways to adapt to restrictions on movement due to the coronavirus.

Good Morning Scotland - Weekend
BBC Radio Scotland

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Scotland's bars, cafes and restaurants are dealing the "most difficult situation they have ever faced", according to Paul Watterson of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

Mr Watterson tells BBC Radio Scotland he thinks difficulties will continue long after any easing of social distancing measures as he expects it to be "one of last sectors to come out of lockdown".

He says that, although he is grateful for some existing government assistance, "about 1,500 operators" in Scotland receive no help at all.

And he believes that, once the current grants and furlough schemes are ended, it will be difficult for many businesses to be viable if social distancing is required inside premises.

"If you have a capacity of 40-50 people, with social distancing you could have 10-12 and some of our members say it would not be worth opening," Mr Watterson adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland's supply of PPE was bolstered on Friday after another 10 million face masks and 100,000 testing kits arrived from China.

The supplies arrived at Prestwick Airport yesterday morning.

Read more here.

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From Monday, everyone who provides social care will have access to appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) under new arrangements announced by the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman.

Local hubs will distribute supplies to care homes, unpaid or family carers and personal assistants where normal supply routes have not been successful.

"As we respond to the challenges from global scarcity of PPE, we have worked with partners to agree an improved model that will ensure all social care providers have access to supplies from national NHS stock," said Ms Freeman.

"This has only been possible because of a shared aim to ensure the right PPE gets to the right people at the right time.

"In the coming weeks, we will collectively monitor how this model is operating, identifying challenges quickly and taking action as we deal with the evolving nature of the pandemic."

Good Morning Scotland - Weekend
BBC Radio Scotland

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A vaccine for Covid-19 is likely to be 12-18 months away even though trials have already begun, Prof Beate Kampmann of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has warned.

Testing one possible vaccine started on Thursday at Oxford University on a group of healthy volunteers between the age of 18 and 55.

Scientists will use those first 100 to garner whether there are "any nasty side-effects", Prof Kampmann told Good Morning Scotland.

To speed up the process, a second group of 1,000 will soon join them, with half taking the new vaccine and half taking an existing inoculation against meningitis. If the study is a success, the next stage would be to test on older volunteers.

One million doses are, meanwhile, being produced in the hope that it will prove effective, but Prof Kampmann adds: "I don't think we are at the stage where we will see a vaccine for you and I any time before 12-18 months if everything goes well."

Image source, SNS

There hasn't been any football played in Scotland since 13 March, but there has been plenty going on behind the scenes and more feathers were flying yesterday as Rangers ramped up their dispute with the Scottish Professional Football League.

Rangers have - "alongside other clubs" - requested an SPFL general meeting to consider calling an independent inquiry into the league's ballot on ending the lower-league season early due to the coronavirus crisis.

The SPFL-commissioned investigation around Dundee's belated and decisive yes vote found "no evidence of improper behaviour".

However, the Ibrox club say the probe "alarmingly failed to examine wider fundamental issues".

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The deaths of two Scottish prisoners are believed to be linked to coronavirus.

Convicted paedophile Gordon Pinkerton, 75, was a prisoner at HMP Dumfries.

John Dargacz, 54, who was jailed for assault and robbery, was a prisoner at HMP Low Moss in East Dunbartonshire.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said it was believed the men's deaths were linked to Covid-19 and that fatal accident inquiries would take place.

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