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As coronavirus takes hold across the UK and cases of infection start to rise, people are to beginning to fear the worst. But it’s not all bad news, by one measure at least, Scotland is the best place to weather the outbreak.

In recent days damning news reports have highlighted the grievous lack of hospital beds in the United Kingdom, which is the third-worst in Europe for beds.

As cases of coronavirus spread, especially in old people, hospitals will be hard-pushed to find enough room for patients – and it’s highly unlikely Westminster will be able replicate China’s feat of building a new 10,000 bed hospital in a week.

The metric used is the number of beds per 1000 people in the population, and data from the OCED shows the UK has the third-lowest number of beds for its population in Europe at just 2.5 per 1,000 residents.

But a closer look reveals a small ray of hope for Scotland.

The OECD data reveals that while England has 2.3 hospital beds per 1000 people, Scotland enjoys almost double that with 4.2 beds per 1000.

We also do better by several other health metrics, which will be important if coronavirus takes hold here.

Scotland has the highest number of GPs per 1000 people, with 76.2 while England has less than 60.

This is as a result of Scotland’s willingness to spend money on health. Healthcare spending in 2017/18 in Scotland was £2,368 per person, while in England it was £2,182, Wales £2,324, and in Northern Ireland £2,320.

So as bleak as things may look, we can take some comfort from the fact if you’re going to get sick, Scotland is - according to these figures anyway - the best place in the United Kingdom to do it.