Image source, Getty Images

Landlords whose tenants are having difficulty paying rent during the Covid-19 crisis have been offered interest-free loans from a £5m fund set up by the Scottish government.

The Private Rent Sector Landlord Covid-19 Loan Scheme will offer eligible landlords up to 100% of lost rental income for a single property.

It will support private sector landlords who are not classified as businesses, have five or less properties to rent and have lost rental income due to tenants unable to pay rent.

Housing Minister Kevin Stewart says it builds on the earlier legislation to protect tenants against any eviction action for six months and "offers landlords the same security as tenants".

The fund has been welcomed by Scottish Association of Landlords chief executive John Blackwood while adding he hopes "there will be further steps taken soon".

Angie Brown
Edinburgh and East reporter

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Edinburgh’s council leader has refused to waive council tax on landlords’ flats that are empty due to the coronavirus lockdown in the city.

Adam McVey, said they needed to continue to collect the money to support vulnerable residents and pay for essential services like waste collections.

Small time landlords in the city with just one or two flats said paying for council tax was crippling.

Many tenants left rental property when the lockdown was announced causing landlords to be left with empty flats as they are not allowed to do viewings.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Scotland's national clinical director has sought to allay fears that the Test, Trace and Isolate system being trialled on the Isle of Wight could drain phone batteries and prove useless in mobile blackspots.

Prof Jason Leitch tells BBC Radio Scotland "we will not be recommending it if it is no good for your phone".

He explains that NHS England, which is testing the app, suggests the Bluetooth signal would not use much memory and does not require a strong phone signal.

Prof Leitch adds that the TTI system in Scotland would be overseen by the 14 health protection teams in the country's 14 health boards and that about 2,000 staff would be required to operate it.

Image source, Reuters

An NHS app that aims to track the spread of coronavirus is being rolled out for the first time, as part of a trial on the Isle of Wight.

Council and healthcare workers will be the first to try the contact-tracing app, with the rest of the island able to download it from Thursday.

If the trial is successful, it could be available across the UK within weeks.

Concerns have been raised over privacy, though ministers say the app has been designed with this "front of mind".

Read more here.

Holyrood Live
BBC Parliaments

Auditor General Caroline Gardner confirms Audit Scotland is engaging with various bodies to get an understanding of challenges posed by Covid-19.

She confirms an updated programme of work is being created to ensure audit work adds value and scrutiny. Reporting on the use of public money is as vital as ever but we do not want auditing to get in the way of vital work, she adds.

All public bodies have some degree of contingency planning in place, the auditor general confirms.

Acting convener Anas Sarwar asks whether there will be an audit of PPE procurement and Ms Gardner says general preparedness will be looked at.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Scotland's national clinical director hopes that the country's new Test, Trace and Isolate system will be up in running in time for the 28 May, when lockdown measures are most likely to be eased if the peak of Covid-19 has passed by then.

Prof Jason Leitch tells BBC Scotland: "We are planning that, if the counter measures got eased slightly, maybe outdoor work rather than indoor work, then the TTI isolate system would be ready."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Thursday, along with the other three UK nations, will announce the latest review of the lockdown measures, with the next review three weeks later.

"We do not see a long enough, consistent reduction in numbers and mortality to make any dramatic changes," Prof Leitch adds.

Connor Gillies
BBC Scotland reporter

A man recently released from Scotland's largest jail has claimed tension among prisoners is at boiling point.

Inmates at HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day and all visits have been cancelled.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said it had "always been a concern" that tensions could boil over but dismissed the possibility of riots.

It comes as the Scottish government approved new early release regulations to help the system cope.

The move allows up to 450 inmates out of prison early.but only those sentenced to 18 months or less and with 90 days or less left to serve are potentially eligible. Some serious offences are excluded.

Read more

Image source, bbc

The SNP has repeated its call for a two year extension to the Brexit transition period because of the coronavirus crisis.

The party’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, wants other opposition parties to support the move which would see the transition period go on beyond the current December 31st deadline.

In a letter to other opposition leaders Mr Blackford says: ‘’The ongoing emergency caused by the Covid-19 virus is, and must remain, the sole focus of our collective efforts, and it is right that other political agendas are paused as we deal with the priority of saving lives and protecting people’s incomes.’’

Mr Blackford and other opposition leaders are due to hold a video conference with the prime minister tomorrow.

They will be briefed by the Boris Johnson on the latest developments in the pandemic.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, NHS

Tech expert Iain S Bruce says the app being tested on the Isle of Wight attempts to alert all those people a person has been in proximity to if they test positive or have symptoms.

The app is voluntary and the only data you have to provide to use it is a postcode, with location data optional he says. It uses bluetooth to detect proximity to others and he questions accuracy as a result.

He says the app will not replace teams of people who will help in tracing but it may help as a first line for a warning system.

Read more about the app available to Isle of Wight residents here.

Image source, bbc

The latest virtual committee looking at the impact of Covid-19 is underway, with this morning being the turn of the Public Audit Committee.

MSPs will hear from Scotland's Auditor General Caroline Gardner about the impact of the pandemic on her office's work.

You can watch the evidence session here with us by clicking on the play icon on Scottish Parliament: Covid-19 business 5 May 2020 at the top of this live page.

Image source, AFP

The general secretaries of 10 teacher trade unions across the UK and Ireland have written to education ministers urging “significant caution" when considering reopening schools.

The letter warns of the “very real risk of creating a spike in the transmission of the coronavirus by a premature opening of schools”.

It calls for sufficient capacity to “test, trace and isolate” the infection as a prerequisite for schools reopening.

The unions, including the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) also want:

• Effective social distancing
• Strong hygiene routines linked to thorough cleansing practices
• Appropriate PPE made available where required
• Ongoing risk assessments in place to monitor operations.

Image source, PA Media

Here’s the political agenda in terms of the response to the coronavirus pandemic:

10am: Scotland’s Auditor General Caroline Gardner will tell MSPs about the impact of covid-19 on Audit Scotland’s work.

12.30pm:Scottish government coronavirus media briefing: The First Minister's expected to set out the next steps towards exiting the Coronavirus lockdown

2.05-2.20 pm:Topical Questions: MSPs will ask about testing for Covid-19 in care homes, the impact of the pandemic on the mental and physical health of older people, the fate of £155m Barnett consequentials and when councils will get the cash. There’s also a query about the testing of asymptomatic people in the community as part of TTI and one about recycling being essential during the crisis.

2.20-3.00 pm: Ministerial Statement: COVID-19 Economy

5pm: UK government coronavirus media briefing

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Dr Tara Shivaji, a consultant in public health medicine at NHS Grampian, says boards are trying to rapidly increase testing capacity and bring more labs online in the weeks ahead.

She explains when a person has a positive test result for Covid-19, they will be asked to provide detailed information on what they have been doing in the days before developing symptoms. This conversation may be over the phone or through a digital platform.

Image source, Getty Images

Health teams will then work to identify the people that person has spent the most time with and are at high risk of having picked up the infection from, she says. Factors that will be taken into account will be whether they were within 2m for a prolonged period (over 15 mins has been cited) and whether the space you interacted in was open or closed.

Dr Shivaji says these people will be given information and asked to isolate for up to 14 days. Should they develop symptoms they will then be tested, she adds.

The aim is to prevent Covid-19 being passed on, she says.

• Scottish test, trace and isolate system 'in place by end of May'
• How will Scotland's testing and tracing system work?

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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It's claimed 80 percent of visitor attractions in Scotland are worried they could go out of business within a year, because of the coronavirus lockdown.

The Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions has released the numbers.

Their chief executive Gordon Morrison told Good Morning Scotland sites like museums still face huge running costs despite zero visitor numbers.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

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Mornings with Kaye Adams is underway and not surprisingly the phone-in is all about Test, Trace and Isolate or TTI as it will come to be known.

The Scottish government hopes to have the testing and tracing system to suppress coronavirus in place by the end of May.

How will it work? Which apps will we be asked to use and how will they impact on us? When will the lockdown restrictions be eased?

Get your questions in: 0808 5 92 95 00 or text 80295