SCOTLAND’S Covid contact tracing system improved its turnaround time last week, though fewer contacts are being traced per case compared to earlier in the pandemic.
Test and Protect’s latest figures showed only 6.1% of cases took more than 72 hours to complete for the week ending July 11, compared to 41.7% of cases in the week ending July 4.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says at least 80% of new cases should have their contacts traced within 72 hours of the case being confirmed. The system fell below this standard for two weeks as infections surged in late June and early July, prompting opposition parties to claim it was in “disarray”.
While there has been a recent improvement in turnaround times, the average number of primary contacts identified per case has fallen during Scotland’s recent spike in infections. It went from six contacts per case at the end of May to three in the week ending July 4.
Provisional data for the week ending July 11 shows only two contacts per case were identified.
READ MORE: Record high for hospitalisations of children with coronavirus
In addition, calls to people who have been told to quarantine as a result of international travel have been paused since June 23.
Last week, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said an extra 100 staff had been brought in to help Test and Protect deal with the increased demand.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The measures we have put in place to ensure the Test and Protect system is able to respond to increasing demand are working well and PHS figures published today show a welcome improvement in performance.
“Contact tracers are reaching unprecedented record numbers of people and staff continue to do fantastic work under significant pressure, delivering an effective and vital public health intervention, with the system closing record numbers of cases on a number of days in recent weeks.” She added: “We are now using a variety of methods to contact people. This includes text messages for lower risk cases and prioritising calls with a shortened interview script focused on higher risk cases.
“These changes are based on clinical advice and ensure the contact tracing system uses its resource appropriately, proportionate to public health risks.”
It came as it emerged that Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca will be added to Scotland’s amber travel list. The Scottish Government said the decision – to take effect from 4am on Monday – was reached on a four nations basis.
The Balearic Islands and the British Virgin Islands have been moved to the amber list.
Bulgaria, Croatia, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been added to the green list and Cuba, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sierra Leone have been moved to the red list.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here