Health Secretary confirms three cases of coronavirus in Scotland

The number of people with coronavirus in Scotland has increased overnight from one to three, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has confirmed.

Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Scotland this morning, Freeman did not confirm whether the two new cases of Covid-19 were linked to the other Tayside case.

"I can confirm that overnight we were informed of two more cases," she said.

"Obviously at this point, I'm sure you can appreciate that there isn't more I can say. We will release more information later - so that takes our total number of cases in Scotland to three."

"There are a number of steps that we need to go through with the patients concerned and other matters before we can release any level of information, partly it's about patient confidentiality, partly it's about making sure that we get the right clinical responses to cases.

"So later in the day, we will be able to let you and others know, but at this point all I can confirm is that we have two more cases, bringing the total to three."

Later on Wednesday, the Scottish Government released a statement revealing the two new cases were from Ayrshire and Grampian. 

"One patient has recently travelled to northern Italy and the other has had contact with a known positive case – this contact was not with the first positive case confirmed in Scotland," the statement said.

"Clinicians have begun contact tracing, the process of gathering details of the places they have visited and the people they have been in contact with.  

"It is important to note that this tracing process does not involve people the patients may have passed on the street or in a shop – as the risk in these situations is very low.

"Close contact involves either face-to-face contact or spending more than 15 minutes within two metres of an infected person. Those at risk of infection will be contacted by health protection teams for further advice. Those who are not contacted are not at risk."

The first case of coronavirus in Scotland, confirmed last weekend, was from the Tayside area and had recently travelled from Italy.

Scotland's chief medical officer Catherin Calderwood said the country is well equipped to "deal with infections of this kind".

"We have a proven track record of dealing with challenging health issues, and have been preparing for this possibility since the beginning of the outbreak," she said.

“We practice and prepare our response to disease outbreaks and follow tried and tested procedures, following the highest safety standards possible for the protection of NHS staff, patients and the public.”

Across the UK there are now 53 confirmed cases of the virus.