Drivetime with John Beattie
BBC Radio Scotland

US President Donald Trump has said he is taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite public health officials warning it may be unsafe.

Speaking at the White House, he told reporters he started taking the malaria and lupus medication recently.

Public health expert Professor Sian Griffiths warns people should not request a prescription of the drug, nor look to purchase it online.

Prof Griffiths says while there is some small evidence on possible benefits, it would need to undergo a larger clinical trial before experts can be certain.

She also states it should not be used for prevention.

Paul O'Hare
BBC Scotland News

Image source, Getty Images

More than 800 Police Scotland officers have been tested for coronavirus with 163 positive results.

A report on Operation Talla, the force's response to the pandemic, confirmed the figures as of 29 April.

The paper, prepared for the Scottish Police Authority, external, reveals the numbers requiring to self-isolate, shield or having displayed Covid-19 symptoms resulted in a peak absence rate of 3,745 on 29 March.

It also notes absence rates remain "slightly higher than would normally be seen" with 1,486 off as of 7 May.

The report described securing suitable personal protective equipment as "challenging" but confirmed more than 11,000 frontline officers and staff have now been trained, equipped or re-supplied with the necessary PPE.

Meanwhile, figures for the end of April show officers engaged with the public 19,000 times in relation to the lockdown restrictions, but enforcement action was only taken in 10% of cases.

The paper also confirmed, as of 7 May, £9.48m has been spent on Police Scotland's response to Covid-19. The figure includes goods ordered, such as PPE, and overtime.

In response to the care home statement from Jeane Freeman, Labour MSP Rhoda Grant asked what scientific advice had changed to make the government change its stance on routine care home staff testing.

Ms Freeman explained the previous view was that unless a person was symptomatic they were unlikely to be infectious. Now there is increasing evidence to suggest asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people may indeed be infectious, she added.

Image source, Scott McPartlin

A telecoms engineer has been living in a tent so he can maintain social distancing while working on an island's phone and broadband connections.

Glasgow-based Scott McPartlin, who works for Openreach, went to Coll to repair damage caused by a lightning strike.

He said: “The customer was vulnerable, and he and his wife were self-isolating when their line got hit by lightning.

“There’s no road from the ferry to their home so it meant a long march over the beach – it was scorching and as much as Coll is stunning, it was tough going."

Since carrying out that work, he has fixed a phone fault at the island's GP surgery and been working on improvements to islanders' broadband connections.

Drivetime with John Beattie
BBC Radio Scotland

Drivetime has just started on BBC Radio Scotland and has an exclusive report from the Common Weal think tank, which has looked into the spread of Covid-19 in Scotland's care homes sector - and the findings make for difficult reading.

There will also be analysis of the continued controversy over the Covid-19 outbreak at a Nike conference in Edinburgh, with both First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Heath Secretary Jeane Freeman being grilled on the matter today.

Meanwhile, presenter John Beattie will be looking closely at the unemployment figures that highlight the economic impact of the lockdown.

Further afield, the programme examine President Trump's claim to be taking anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to protect himself against Covid-19 while going against accepted medical advice.

Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs asked how many people were discharged from hospital to care homes either without having been tested or awaiting the results of a test.

He suggested there has been a "dysfunctional approach" to testing in care homes.

The health secretary says 38% of all delayed discharges had been into care homes, after health and social care partnerships asked to focus on it.

"I refute the idea that we were forcing people out of hospital," she says, also insisting the approach has not been "dysfunctional".

Ms Freeman insists testing is not the silver bullet for stopping transmission of Covid-19, with infection prevention and control the "primary way" to prevent transmission.

Image source, Getty Images

It’s emerged that staff from Lloyds Banking Group shared facilities with delegates from Nike who’ve been linked to a coronavirus outbreak in Edinburgh in February.

The BBC has been told that 20 Lloyds employees were in the same hotel on the same day but were not told about the outbreak and were not offered testing.

Last week BBC Scotland revealed that at least 25 people linked to the Nike event may have contracted the virus.

The Scottish government has previously said that those at increased risk were identified, their close contacts were traced and public health authorities were satisfied there was no further infection risk.

Ms Freeman told Holyrood that as part of measures taken in care homes, that all staff would be offered testing - this work will begin next week and tests would be offered as close to care homes as possible, she said.

She also confirmed the Care Inspectorate are "actively engaged" in direct inspections of individual care homes.

A further measure is the involvement of NHS directors with care homes in their area, monitoring issues such as infection prevention and control, PPE provision and rotas.

Ms Freeman said these arrangements were "not about medicalising care provision in care homes" but were a "necessary response to a national emergency".

She concluded these measures were "not the end of our work by any means".

In a ministerial statement on care homes, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said one area of concern was the sustainability of the workforce.

Ms Freeman highlighted that a recruitment process had begun on 29 March to build a "backup workforce" to make sure care home rotas were stable. By 18 May, she said 895 people had been cleared to work in social care settings and that 254 of those had been matched with an employer.

Ms Freeman urged care home providers to make use of the "several hundred employees waiting to begin work".

She added that she was aware social care workers were anxious to be tested because of the contracts given by their employers - which would mean their income reduces to statutory sick pay levels should they need to self isolate.

She said this decision was "intolerable" and "arises solely" because of the contracts employers provide.

Ms Freeman said she is in coversation with Donald Macaskill of Social Care, who is speaking with Cosla about how this issue can be resolved.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier during the Scottish governent briefing Vivienne Aitken, from The Daily Record, asked about how the shielded group of the population would be treated as the lockdown is eased.

The first minister replied it is important that this vulnerable section of the population is not forgotten about.

Nicola Sturgeon pointed out that such people currently were advised to shield for three months, which would be until the end of June. She says that remains the case but says the Scottish government is looking at less restrictive ways "we continue to protect people in that category without them being completely isolated in their own homes as they are now".

She hoped that the "test, trace, isolate" system can help with that along with localised risk information to let them make more informed decisions for themselves.

Earlier during topical questions Labour MSP Daniel Johnson says that people in Edinburgh will be concerned that the Nike conference outbreak happened in a "very busy hotel" and said that relying on people's memories for who they had contact with is "frankly an impossibility".

Mr Johnson asked the health secretary whether the guidance on publicising such outbreaks is changing and will be handled differently in the future if outbreaks occur in public places.

Jeane Freeman said that the definition for what constitutes a contact is the same now as it was in March and did not rely on people remembering who they passed in the street.

She said she understood members' concerns, adding that moving forward, consideration would be given to whether there was a "better way" to strike a balance.

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MSP Neil Findlay asks Ms Freeman whether anyone at the Livingstone Nike shop was traced, whether the shop or any others in the area were deep cleaned and if so, were staff made aware of the reasons for the clean.

Ms Freeman said she did not have the details of any of the contacts that were traced and would not have such information "in the normal course". She said local tracing teams would have such information and pursue it.

MSP Ruth Davidson listed a number of people who had contact with Nike delegates which were not contacted by tracers - including a kilt fitter and guides which took delegates on walking tours. She asked Ms Freeman how many tracers were put on the case, how many people were contacted in Scotland and how many were tested for Covid-19 at this "ground zero" outbreak.

The health secretary said she would provide answers in a written response.

During Nicola Sturgeon's daily briefing earlier, Simon Johnson, from the Daily Telegraph, suggests that, had the Scottish government made it public that there was an outbreak at the Nike conference, those who are coming forward now saying they had been in contact with attendees would have done so earlier. He wonders if the first minister accepts there had been a mistake not to publicise the outbreak.

Nicola Sturgeon replies that: "I accept there are different judgements you can always come to about these things. What I am trying to do is be open and accepting of that.

"There are very few aspects of dealing with this, in my experience of dealing with this over the last few months, that are absolutely black and white and clear-cut. A lot of it is judgement and I accept that we will get some of these judgements wrong.

"That's not me saying I think that was the case in this case, but I accept that, even in situations where I think, on balance, the judgement was right, other people will take a different view.

"What I do take exception to is the politicised view from some quarters that this was some kind of cover up. I pose again the question: 'What for?' What possible motivation."

Image source, b

On the issue of contact tracing, the health secretary tells Holryood there are two big considerations to take into account - the first is "patient confidentiality," which she says is important, but so too is "public health".

"I absolutely understand the concerns" she adds in response to Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie's questioning.

Ms Freeman said that the government would need to give consideration to what the balance of those two factors should be as "we move into test trace isolate".

The public needs to have confidence in that test trace isolate system, she makes clear.

Image source, Getty Images

Alistair Grant from The Herald asks about the reopening of schools and possibility for “blended learning”.

Ms Sturgeon says the government will give an up-to-date review of the phased return of schools. She says a final decision has not been made on how this will go ahead.

“We want to get children back to school as quickly as possible but we have to do that in a way that is safe and has the confidence of parents and teachers,” she adds.

Kieran Andrews, from The Times, asks for clarification about the numbers from Scotland involved at the Nike conference. He says the first minister suggested 10 today while previously it had been said that there were eight cases in Scotland connected with the event.

Nicola Strurgeon says it is her understanding that there were 10 Scots among 70 attending the conference and eight tested positive.

The Times reporter also refers to a House of Commons science and technology committee, external which said that, in terms of the government's response to Covid-19, capacity drove strategy rather than strategy driving capacity and wonders if that was the case for Scotland too.

Ms Sturgeon admits she has not read the report and says that "while there will be elements of that criticism that are not unfair", she thought that this particular criticism is "an over-simplification".

"I don't think, at any stage, it was one thing or the other," she says. "We tried to do the right thing at the time with the resources we had and, where we did not have all the resources, we have tried to get those resources and make decisions based on the best scientific advice."

Image source, Getty Images

Health Secretary Jeanne Freeman answers questions in the Holyrood chamber. She is asked about contact tracing in the context of patient confidentiality and the need to protect the public. The question arises in part from a coronavirus outbreak which stemmed from a Nike conference in Edinburgh.

Image source, EPA

During the first minister's briefing, Gina Davidson from The Scotsman asked how many patients had been treated at the NHS Louisa Jordan.

The temporary coronavirus hospital opened one month ago tomorrow.

Nicola Sturgeon confirms the NHS Louisa Jordan has not been used, saying: “I am absolutely delighted by that.”

But she adds: “I’m still absolutely of the opinion it was right to prepare it as a contingency.”

As cases and hospital admissions decline, the government are considering the resumption of hospital procedures that were paused and while no decisions have been taken, using NHS Louisa Jordan to support this is being considered.