Enhanced Covid-19 testing rolled out to north-east communities after 'surge' in cases

Enhanced Covid-19 testing is being rolled out to several north-east communities to combat a surge in cases.

It is being targeted at Tillydrone and Froghall in Aberdeen, and Elrick and Westhill in Aberdeenshire.

Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian said: "These areas are seeing a high number of cases and, from the data, this appears to be sustained and accelerating.  

"If everyone pulls together in these areas now and comes forward for testing, we hope to keep it under control. We saw recently with the surge in Moray cases the part that asymptomatic testing has in breaking chains of transmission and ensuring as few people become infected as possible. 

"We want to keep any third wave as small as possible in Grampian and, alongside the vaccine rollout, our best weapon against the virus is testing."

Tillydrone is current seeing 987.7 cases per 100,000 people. In Old Aberdeen, where Froghall is situated, the number is 470; in Garlogie and Elrick the figure is 1,350.7 and Westhill Central is 393.4. 

In Aberdeen city as a whole the figure is 127.7 and in Aberdeenshire it is 54.4. The national figure is 139.9. 

Jillian added: "Recently in Moray when we expanded testing to fight the surge in cases, thousands of people came forward and we quickly found that around 50% of cases were showing no symptoms. 

"These people were unknowingly walking around potentially spreading the virus to others – those could be vulnerable people who are unable to get the vaccine due to medical issues or someone else who could be badly effected by catching Covid-19. The people who came forward played their part in protecting their families, their friends, their local communities, their local NHS. 

"People coming forward for asymptomatic testing when they feel well or undertaking LFD testing at home is key in keeping cases in the region down. 

"Get tested, get vaccinated and protect your community. No one is safe until everyone is safe."

Public health consultant Derek Cox has warned case numbers in Grampian could return to levels seen in January if they are not brought under control.

He said: "At the moment, modelling suggests that we could have 300 cases per day in Grampian in the coming weeks – if cases are spread equally around Scotland. 

"That’s as bad as it was in January, when contact tracing was badly impacted due to the sheer volume of work. 

"However we can avoid these problems if people take up the vaccine, undertake asymptomatic testing, social distance, wash hands and wear a mask. 

"Some people seem to think we are past the pandemic and are safe – we are not. People need to be paying more attention to long Covid, a significant number of younger people, who are being affected now, are suffering from long Covid – that can affect their ability to work and we are seeing cases which have lasted more than a year. 

"In other areas with higher cases number across the UK we are seeing higher numbers of young people being admitted to hospital. 

"The societal effect from a third wave could be huge, even if hospital number and deaths are lower. A peak means more people have self-isolate – that can mean teachers, doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers and anyone else in society - may not be able to work for ten days at a time.

"From a NHS point of view this can have a significant impact on our staffing at a time when we are trying to remobilise and get through growing waiting lists."

An asymptomatic testing centre will be made available in Tillydrone in the coming days.

Meanwhile a pop-up testing site is already in operation at Westhill Library.