THE Scottish Government has received no word from Westminster that it is preparing to scrap free lateral flow tests, professor Jason Leitch has said.
Scotland’s national clinical director stated there is “no intelligence” that reports of scrapping free coronavirus testing are true, describing them as a “red herring”.
The UK’s Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, denied there are plans to stop providing free lateral flow devices after a Sunday Times story suggested Prime Minister Boris Johnson would announce the change within weeks.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that scrapping free lateral flows would be an “utterly wrongheaded” approach to dealing with Covid-19.
Asked about the reports, Leitch said the Scottish Government believes the UK Government’s denial and expects lateral flow tests will continue to be “freely available”.
The Scottish Government accesses lateral flow tests that are procured by the UK Government on behalf of all four nations, and it pays for them via funding arrangements as part of the UK-wide national testing programme.
Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Leitch said: “We procure them four-country wide, we distribute four-country wide.
“We have no intelligence at all that story is true so we’re carrying on anticipating lateral flow tests will be freely available.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon warns Boris Johnson over move to axe free Covid tests
Pressed about whether the Scottish Government is making contingency plans in case the UK Government decides to end their free supply, he said: “We think it’s a red herring.
“We believe the UK Government when they say it’s not true.”
When Zahawi was asked about the possibility of ending free lateral flows on Sunday, the Cabinet minister said “absolutely not”, adding that he was “puzzled” by the report.
But he indicated support for reducing the isolation period from seven days to five, if it can be done safely, in order to reduce staffing pressures on the NHS and businesses.
However, Leitch said it is “far too early to make that decision”.
He continued: “We’ve only just gone from 10 to seven. We went from 14 to 10 some time ago, now we’ve gone from 10 to seven with quite a lot of extra steps – a couple of tests, vaccination and all those other things to get released if you possibly can – but there’s no suggestion yet that we should move to five.
“They’ve done it in some limited parts of the world but the data suggests that’s a risk, particularly at high levels of infection.
“So we’re not intending to do that.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel