Health secretary Jeane Freeman has said it is too early to say whether cases of covid-19 are under control in care homes.

Since the start of the pandemic, nearly four in ten covid-19 deaths have taken place in care homes.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, Ms Freeman said there were currently 40% of care homes with one or more active cases of the virus.

She outlined a number of measures which had been put in place to tackle the issue, including an expansion of testing for staff and residents.

She said: “We are continuing to do everything we can, in consultation with Scottish Care and others, to ensure we are providing the data needed to help us increasingly understand what is happening in our care homes.

“But also most importantly, the clinical support to ensure that proper infection prevention measures and control are being undertaken in those care homes.”

However she added: “We can’t yet say where we are on the case numbers - we need to see the data come through a little bit more before we could answer the question as to whether we think we have at that point begun to control cases in our care homes.

“But that is absolutely our number one priority in all the work we are doing there.”

Last week calls were made for a stepping up of measures to protect care home residents in Scotland from the virus.

A leading microbiologist also told MSPs everyone who enters a care home should be tested for covid-19 to prevent the virus “rampaging” through vulnerable residents.

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