Two more coronavirus cases confirmed in Scotland

Two more cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Scotland by health secretary Jeane Freeman.

The number of Scottish patients has risen to a total of three after the latest cases were confirmed overnight.

The locations of the recently diagnosed patients have been confirmed as the Ayrshire and Grampian areas.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Freeman said: “Overnight we were informed of two more cases. That takes our total number of cases now to three.”

‘Overnight we were informed of two more cases. That takes our total number of cases now to three.’
Health secretary Jeane Freeman

The Scottish Government has warned that as many as 80% of the population could become infected by the virus, with potentially 4% of this group requiring hospital treatment.

But Freeman said: “Not all of those people will require hospital treatment at the same time.”

She said the government was looking at capacity in the NHS and “what more we can do now in order to create additional headroom inside the health service”.

Consideration is also being given to how to increase capacity in areas of the NHS such as high oxygen therapy for patients, Freeman said.

Meetings are also taking place with local government leaders at Cosla to see what can be done to ensure patients do not have to stay in hospital longer than is needed because they are waiting for care arrangements.

The Health Secretary said: “There is more than we need to do, we still have too many people not leaving at the point when the hospital has finished delivering clinical care.”

The number of cases across the UK currently stands at 53.

The first Scottish person was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Sunday night. The patient is from the Tayside area and had recently travelled from Italy.