TODDLER TESTING
Coronavirus Scotland: Children under age of five can now get Covid-19 test as Scottish nurseries reopen
by Nick Haseloff · The Scottish SunCHILDREN under five years old can be tested for Covid-19 from tomorrow as Scottish nurseries and childcare services emerge from lockdown.
The move was announced today by Nicola Sturgeon at the daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh.
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The First Minister said: “This is a step which is designed to prevent families from having to self-isolate unnecessarily if young children develop symptoms.
"Something which we think is increasingly important as childcare resumes."
Previously, this age group was not allowed access to testing outside of clinical settings.
Interim Chief Medical Officer Gregor Smith added that this type of testing is important because of the reopening of childcare centres.
He said: “I would encourage anyone who has symptoms of Covid-19 or whose child has symptoms, to get a test immediately to help us suppress the spread of the virus.”
Dr. Smith said that children are very unlikely to have severe symptoms or to pass the virus on to adults, but stressed that they should still be tested if they show symptoms to avoid unnecessary isolation.
Adults and carers will be able to book a test for a child, Dr Smith said, by going to the NHS Inform website or calling 0800 028 2816.
It comes as no Scots died overnight from the virus for the fifth day in a row, meaning Scotland's death toll remains at 2,491.
There have been 22 new cases in the last 24 hours, the majority of them coming from Lanarkshire, where there has been an outbreak at a call centre.
Ms Sturgeon revealed “at least some” of the new cases announced today “are likely to be connected” to the outbreak at the Sitel centre in Motherwell, which is being used for NHS England's Test and Trace.
And Education Secretary John Swinney confirmed a final decision on reopening Scotland's schools in August will be made on July 30.