There is likely to be more than 2500 people with coronavirus in Scotland just now according to the Health Secretary.
Jeane Freeman, said: “For the number in intensive care you multiply it by 100. At the moment we have 25 in ICU, so that’s 2,500. That’s an under-estimate.”
Just now the official figures from yesterday, are 499 confirmed cases and 14 people have died.
There have been 9,364 people tested so far.
Ms Freeman said that 80% of those infected would experience mild symptoms and fully recover. The rest would need some treatment and around 19% of those would need hospitalization. Of those needing hospital treatment half would likely need invasive treatments like oxygen.
She said 100 extra ventillators are on order over a period up to the summer.
The Health Secretary said the government was trying to understand the “level of spread” in the community of people who feel unwell but don’t know if its coronavirus.
Ms Freeman was giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament Health Committee on the NHS efforts to deal with the pandemic the day after Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson announced strict new measures on people’s movement and contacts to try and stop the spread of the virus.
She said they are working to find “what is the degree of grip the virus has in the community. That will determine the level of what we are asking people not to do.”
She said the network of assessment centres being set up will do that to allow GPs to continue to treat non coronavirus illnesses.
On the emergency powers being legislated for at Westminster and Holyrood, she said: "We believe these powers are necessary contributors to the work we need to take which is about saving lives."
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