NICOLA Sturgeon has moved to reassure Scots that the coronavirus contact tracing system is “working to a very high standard”.
Her comments came after a “coding error” led to an overestimation of the number of people traced within 24 hours after someone they’d been in close proximity to had tested positive for Covid-19.
The figures, first reported by The Scottish Sun, showed the system performing up to five times worse than previously thought, with contact tracing taking longer than 72 hours to complete in some cases.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, Sturgeon said: “There has been a coding error going back in terms of how Public Health Scotland have been classifying cases.
“It means some of the cases they had classified as being processed within zero to 24 hours actually should have fallen in 24 to 48 hours. And that has changed some of the figures.”
She stressed the Test and Protect system is “working well”, saying the WHO target is for at least 80% of new coronavirus cases to have their close contacts traced and quarantined in 72 hours of them being diagnosed.
The latest figures, for the week up to November 8, show 95.8% of contact tracing of all positive cases was completed within 72 hours, Sturgeon said.
Speaking about the issue at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing yesterday, she added: “In fact 88.7% was completed within 48 hours so Test and Protect was exceeding the WHO standard for 72 hours within 48 hours.
“So Test and Protect is working well. Like any system it is not going to be perfect, the coding error should not have happened but it happened, these things do happen. It has been rectified.”
Deaths of coronavirus patients in Scotland reached a six-month high yesterday, with 64 recorded in the past in 24 hours.
The overall death toll – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 3143.
The First Minister said it was the highest daily figure since May 6.
Across the four nations there were 595 deaths, the highest figure since May 7, taking the total recorded under that measure to 50,365.
The First Minister said stricter coronavirus restrictions imposed in Scotland have “very significantly” slowed the spread of the virus and saved lives.
Sturgeon said: “The measures that we have adopted in recent weeks and the sacrifices all of you – and people across the country – have been making have been having an effect.
“There’s no doubt, when we look at the data over the past few weeks, these measures have slowed very significantly the rate at which cases were increasing.”
She added: “Everybody should be under no doubt that these measures and these sacrifices have had an effect, and they will have saved lives.”
The First Minister said 1261 positive tests were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the daily test positivity rate to 6.5%, down from 9.5% on Tuesday.
Of the new cases, 488 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 272 in Lanarkshire, 145 in Lothian, and 80 in Ayrshire and Arran.
There are 1235 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, down four in 24 hours.
Of these patients, 93 are in intensive care, down by nine.
Separate figures released by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) indicate 4856 people in Scotland have died with confirmed or suspected coronavirus as of Sunday.
The statistics are published weekly and account for all deaths registered in Scotland when Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.
They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.
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