The Scottish Government did a U-turn on coronavirus testing in care homes yesterday – announcing that all new residents would be checked.

Just 24 hours earlier, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had said that testing people who were asymptomatic would risk creating a “false positive”.

But in the Scottish Parliament, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “ Covid-19 patients discharged from hospital to a care home should have given two negative tests before discharge but we now expect other new admissions to care homes to be tested and isolated for 14 days in addition to the clear social distancing measures set out.”

Nicola Sturgeon said that testing people who were asymptomatic would risk creating a “false positive” prior to the Scottish Government's U-turn

She emphasised testing was not an alternative to the other measures but said: “It can and does provide a necessary assurance to family members of those already in care homes and to those being admitted to care homes and, of course, an assurance to staff.”

There has now been 8672 confirmed cases of the virus in Scotland and 1866 people are receiving treatment in hospital – 166 of them in intensive care.

It was also revealed yesterday that the number of confirmed Covid-19 deaths had risen by 70 – bringing the total to 985 here.

But that doesn’t include deaths in care homes which last week stood at 237 – a figure expected to rise when they are announced today.

On Monday, the Daily Record highlighted to Sturgeon the deaths of 15 residents and their bus driver at Crosslets Care Home in Dumbarton, and raised the subject of testing.

And at the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and local MSP Jackie Baillie said another resident had died in the same home overnight.

Scottish Labour's deputy leader Jackie Baillie fought back tears as she urged to Scottish Government to 'urgently investigate' the deaths of residents at a West Dunbartonshire care home

She added: “Senior managers as late as yesterday were claiming the home is Covid-19 free. That is despite two local GPs diagnosing residents with Covid-19, five staff testing positive and one member of staff now in hospital. In a shameful piece of spin which would, frankly, make most politicians blush the council claim they are following guidelines, giving the impression to families they are testing residents, but they haven’t tested a single resident, not one. They haven’t even been accountable to their local councillors who are being refused information.”

Choking back tears, she called on Freeman to instruct an “urgent investigation” and tell West Dunbartonshire Council not to “allow older people to be treated as second class citizens”.

Freeman said what Baillie had outlined was “utterly shameful and completely unacceptable” and said she would ask the relevant director of public health to “ensure residents who are symptomatic are tested and to advise me on what additional steps they think should be taken”. Freeman admitted that with the guidance issued to care homes about isolation and prevention, “we should not have seen the level of transmission that we have”.

Announcing new measures, she said: “We need to increase our clinical oversight, our Care Inspectorate inspection of those areas, as well as ensuring through the direct delivery of PPE and other measures that we are offering the maximum support to care homes that we can.

“Guidance on isolation in care homes has been established for some time… but today I am setting out a tailored series of additional steps we are taking to protect staff and residents.”

NHS directors of public health will now take on enhanced clinical leadership of care homes, including reporting on how each home is faring in terms of infection control, staffing, training, social distancing and testing and must report “on the actions they intend to take to rectify, and rectify quickly, any deficit they identify”.

She added: “To supplement this new clinical oversight we are establishing a National Rapid Response Group.

“This group will receive daily updates and will activate any local action needed to deal with issues as they emerge as well as co-ordinate a wider package of support.”

Talking earlier about the latest death figures, Sturgeon said she remained “cautiously optimistic” that while the numbers were fluctuating they appeared to be broadly stable.

She added that she hoped to see a reduction of the numbers of people dying within the next couple of weeks.