Coronavirus in Scotland: 'What I did was wrong'

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A total of 15 residents at a care home in the east end of Glasgow have died after showing symptoms of coronavirus.

Yesterday, Burlington Court Care Home in Cranhill said 13 people had passed away in the last week, but BBC Scotland understands the figure now stands at 15 since 27 March.

At her daily briefing earlier, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisted the Scottish Government will do "everything they can" to ensure those in care homes get the treatment they need.

A care worker in West Dunbartonshire has died with suspected coronavirus, according to Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon.

The death of the employee of West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership was confirmed "with deepest sadness" by its chief officer, Ben Culshaw.

Ms Lennon said absence levels among social care workers were "soaring" across Scotland and there were fears about a lack of personal protective equipment.

She said she has written to the first minister asking her to guarantee safe systems of work for all social care staff "because lives are at risk".

Mr Culshaw said it was following government and health guidance and "doing everything we can to protect, support and safeguard our workers, including by providing training and PPE."

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The first coronavirus case in Scotland was detected on 1 March by NHS Tayside and the number of patients testing positive for Covid-19 has risen steadily since then.

There are currently 3,706 confirmed cases, although the actual number could be more than 200,000.

The chart below shows how the number of reported deaths from coronavirus has risen since the first death on 13 March.

Nicola Sturgeon highlighted that today's modest rise of two deaths, bringing the confirmed total to 220, is likely to be "artificially low" because of reporting processes and a truer picture is likely to emerge in the coming days.

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Asked at a UK Government coronavirus briefing about Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood, who faced calls to resign after travelling to her second home, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "This is a matter for the Scottish government."

"These rules are there for everyone," he added.

Mr Hancock also said the government "can't rule out further steps" if people fail to heed rules with regard to exercise, although he stressed the importance of it to both physical and mental health.

"I don't want anyone to think any changes on social distancing are imminent, because the vast majority are following the rules," he added.

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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she is "acutely aware" of the importance of public trust in government advice to stay at home, and that Dr Catherine Calderwood will no longer have a public-facing role.

"To maintain that trust we will be revising our public information campaign and the chief medical officer will be withdrawing from media briefings for the foreseeable future," she said.

"She will continue to provide the Scottish government with the scientific and medical advice on the spread of coronavirus."

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The Queen is to stress the value of self-discipline and resolve during the coronavirus pandemic in a special address on Sunday.

In a rare speech, she will acknowledge the grief, pain and financial difficulties being faced during this "time of disruption".

She will also thank NHS staff and key workers, and emphasise the important role individuals can play.

Her address will be broadcast on TV, radio and social media at 20:00 BST.

• Ayrshire and Arran 267
• Borders 130
• Dumfries and Galloway 141
• Fife 200
• Forth Valley 226
• Grampian 194
• Greater Glasgow and Clyde 931
• Highland 99
• Lanarkshire 478
• Lothian 534
• Orkney 4
• Shetland 41
• Tayside 457
• Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) 4

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Testing NHS staff for coronavirus has begun at a new drive-though facility set up in Glasgow Airport's long-stay car park.

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Nicola Sturgeon says the Scottish government is making £38m available to local authorities to help people who are struggling to feed themselves during the current crisis, particularly families whose children rely on free school meals.

"This funding is intended to help councils help them," she said.

The first minister also revealed that almost 10,000 people have come forward to help increase health service capacity, including medical students, retired NHS staff, those on a career break and health care workers from outside the NHS.

Ms Sturgeon said processes such as disclosure checks were being fast-tracked so they can join the workforce as soon as possible.

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Asked about the reasons behind her visits to her second home, Dr Calderwood said: "There are no reasons I can give you that would justify being away from my own home in Edinburgh.

"I have let the public in Scotland down and colleagues in the NHS down. I apologize unreservedly for that."

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Earlier in her briefing, Nicola Sturgeon confimed that the Burlington Court Care Home in Glasgow has notified the Care Inspectorate of 16 deaths since 27 March, 12 of them "displaying symptoms consistent with Covid-19".

"My thoughts are with the families of all of them," added the first minister.

"This has brought home that staff in the care sector are doing a very demanding job in very stressful circumstances, and I am grateful to each and every one of them for the work they do."

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In announcing the latest coronavirus figures, with two more deaths taking the tally of hospital deaths in Scotland to 220, Nicola Sturgeon said they should "not be taken as representative of events over this weekend".

The first minister noted that the reporting system for deaths is not fully up and running seven days a week and that she expects the figures reported today, and on Monday, to be "artificially low".

"These figures will be reconciled on Tuesday and Wednesday and I expect them to increase from the 46 deaths reported yesterday," she added.

The chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, added: "I know how important the advice is that I have issued.

"This was a mistake, human error and there are no excuses," she said.

"My intention is to continue to focus on my job."

She said she recognised that she had let both the NHS and the general public down.