Scotland’s Covid-19 testing capacity has come under pressure in recent weeks following the return to school and the start of cold season, with stories of families being sent to England and Northern Ireland for testing.

Today at the Scottish government’s daily coronavirus briefing,  first minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed that last week alone almost 17,500 children were tested.

Ms Sturgeon said those figures were an increase of 300 per cent on the previous week and that testing of under-17s had increased eightfold since the middle of July, when Scottish schools were on holiday.

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However, Ms Sturgeon stressed that the rate of positive results was just 0.3 per cent, adding symptoms such as a runny nose should not lead to a test.

She said: “This is a very significant number but the key point I wanted to make and share with you today from that is this one, of those 17,500 young people who have been tested or who were tested last week alone, only 49 of them tested positive. That’s a positivity rate of just 0.3 per cent.”

Ms Sturgeon added that those 17,500 tests represented an increase of 300 per cent on the previous week yet the number of positive cases recorded increased by just two.

She continued: “I think that is encouraging and I hope is reassuring to parents and teachers across the country. I hope it will encourage you to absolutely continue to be vigilant, we all have to be vigilant right now but not to be unduly concerned about young people in schools.

“And while it is understandable that people, parents in particular, want to err on the side of caution, it is also important to remember the symptoms of Covid that trigger the need for a test. These are any one of a new persistent cough, a fever, or a loss of or change in sense of taste or smell.

“Other symptoms - like a runny nose - if they are not accompanied by one of the Covid symptoms, should not lead to a test.”

However, one parent reacted angrily to her comments saying it had been “blindingly obvious” their child had a cold, but the school insisted on a test, resulting in “a 200 mile round trip to Aberdeen to get tested”.

Meanwhile, a teacher pointed out that children get “a runny nose AND a cough AND a fever” and schools had to decide if it was “just a cold”, or coronavirus.