ms sturgeon said it will not be a binary choice going forward about schools.tay open, but she did warn that if and when they do start closing, in a wider scale manner, it is likely to be for a very long time, perhaps three or four months. there was also more information on the testing procedures here in scotland will stop ms sturgeon said that people with symptoms going into hospital will be tested, as will front line nhs workers, but there is also what is called the sentinel gp testing which is usually used for seasonal flu. that will be expanded by the end of the week to cover 200 gp surgeries in scotland, covering a population of 1.2 million people. anyone in those areas presenting with symptoms similar to covid—19 will be tested for the disease. that is to allow the medical staff, the experts who are modelling all this, to get a sense of how the virus is spreading and whether there are hotspots where they need to focus their efforts going forward. much has been made of differences in different areas in terms of public policy. how much coordination is there

ms sturgeon also said any decision on whether to close schools has not yet been made, in light of the anticipated move from the contain phase amid the coronavirus outbreak, to the delay phase. local authorities and schools that we are now advising that overseas school trips should not be going ahead. i understand that the foreign & commonwealth office will issue travel advice that aligns with that position. i want to address briefly theissue position. i want to address briefly the issue of school closures more generally. it is not the advice right now that schools should close, oi’ right now that schools should close, or indeed colleges or universities require to close. that is not what we are advising at this stage. although that is an issue that will be kept under at very close and ongoing review. it might be helpful to expand on that point a little bit to expand on that point a little bit to give some of the rationale, that is informed and guided by the scientific advice we have access to. a couple of practical issues. obviously closing schools has a very direct effect on the abili