An ambulance worker has revealed what it is like to get tested for coronavirus in Scotland.
William Allan received an email from his work at 11.30am on Wednesday to stress the importance of testing among staff.
The 30-year-old from Motherwell booked an appointment immediately after as he had been suffering a cough for a number of days.
He then made the 15 minute journey to Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility, which is currently being used by the army for a makeshift Covid-19 testing centre.
Around 15 cars were lined up at the facility during his half hour time slot waiting to be tested.
Everything started to feel a bit more real for William when he drove up for the procedure.
The private ambulance worker, who took a week off work prior to the test, told the Daily Record : “I work with a lot of elderly folk, so the paranoia of potentially making someone very ill started to set in.
“The amount of cars inside really took me by surprise. Some of the people behind the wheel looked a lot more ill than myself, so it made me wonder why I was here in the first place.”
One member of army personnel deployed to the facility provided William with a self-testing kit through the passenger side of his car.
Inside contained a swab pack, sample tube, absorbent sheet resealable bags and stick on barcode labels.
William firstly had to put the swab inside his mouth to collect fluids from his tonsils.
The leaflet provided describes a ‘mildly comfortable’ sensation when carrying this out, which William described as "horrible" in a video of him taking the test.
The same swab is then used to take fluids from the inside of the nostrils, before it is packaged and coded inside the sample tube.
A zip-lock bag containing the tube is then passed back to the medical professionals, who provide the results of the test over the next 24 hours.
William was relieved to discover he has tested negative for Covid-19 the following day.
He said: “The whole process was very easy to understand - the only bit of confusion was over the return of the kit.
“One of the army guys told me a few people were unsure whether or not to return the test in a biohazard bag they provide of the zip-lock one.
“It has given me a lot of reassurance and peace of mind - I felt like a huge weight had been lifted when it came back negative.
“It’s all about safety first at this moment in time, so if you have the opportunity to get the test, get it.”
