Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the Scottish Government is not keeping any secrets from the Scottish public over the spread of Coronavirus.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, the First Minister praised the work of frontline NHS workers and detailed plans to increase the capacity of intensive care provision following the latest rise in cases of Covid-19.
More than 170 Scottish patients have tested positive for the condition, with one person dying as a result of the disease.
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At a briefing yesterday, Ms Sturgeon warned that Scotland was “on the cusp of a rapid acceleration of the spread of coronavirus,” adding that measures being put in place to curb the progression of the disease would “ significantly and substantially change life as we know it for a considerable period of time”.
Asked by Laura Maxwell on Tuesday morning what the government was “not telling [us]” the First Minister said: “I'm not not telling you anything."
"Of course if I came on here and tried to get into every detail of information I'm looking at on NHS preparedness then I would overload you and we would not have time to do it.
"I am not keeping anything back and I will not be keeping anything back.It is really important to give a balance of information and to try to inform people without scaring people."
Around 360 ventilators are currently available for use in Scottish hospitals, however the First Minister confirmed plans to increase that to a minimum of 700 over the next few weeks.
She added that frontline workers would be tested for the condition, but said the responsibility for protecting the most vulnerable members of the Scotish public ultimately lay with those closely following hygiene advice.
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The first minister said: "We will be testing key workers in Scotland so that we are not having people, particularly in parts of our front line health service, unnecessarily self-isolating at home."
“You are protecting yourself, you are protecting others and you are also crucially helping us to protect the ability of our national health service to provide the care and treatment for people who need it.
"The responsibility is on all of us to follow the advice and do the right thing."
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