CITY CASES FALL... BUT SLOWLY
First Minister to reveal map out of lockdown
THE drop in positive virus tests in Glasgow has slowed – but case numbers continue to fall. The latest weekly statistics show that up until last Friday, February 19, there were 856 new positive cases reported in the city.
It is a reduction of just 45 from the previous seven days.
It marks yet another fall and is around half of the number recorded four weeks ago on January 22, when it was 1699 cases.
The rate of positive tests measured as per hundred of population dipped accordingly from 142 per 100,000 to 135.
It remains above the overall Scottish figure of 103.9 per 100,000, with 5676 cases over the latest seven-day period.
The figures come as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is due to announce the road map out of lockdown which will depend on the progress of the vaccination programme, a continued reduction in positive cases and numbers in hospital.
Glasgow has the 10th highest rate of Covid cases in Scotland with Falkirk the highest at 213 per 100,000.
Aberdeen City has the lowest of the mainland with 26.7 per 100,000 and just 61 positive cases recorded in the past week.
There was just one area in Glasgow at the highest level of above 400 per 100,000 people, shown as the darkest purple on the map.
Pollokshields East had 21 new cases which was 416 per 100,000.
It was followed by 27 areas where the rate was between 200 and 399 per 100,000 shown as the next darkest purple on the map.
These included, at the higher end, Govanhill West with 23 cases – a rate of 397 per 100,000.
It was followed by Drumchapel North and Knightswood Park East with 12 each and Greenfield with 16, all above 300 per 100,000.
At the lower end of that scale were Castlemilk with 10, Parkhead West and Barrowfield with 15, Maryhill East with seven, Nitshill with l3, Garrowhill East and Swinton and Roystonhill with nine each and Blochairn and Provanmill with 13, all below 220 per 100,000.
There were 57 areas where the rate was 100 to 199, shown as the dark grey on the map.
These included nine areas above 190 per 100,000.
These were Cowlairs and Port Dundas, Maryhill
West, Braidfauld, Garrowhill West, Cardonald West and Central, Ibrox, Carnwadric East, Dennistoun North and Easterhouse East.
At the lower end of that category were Knightswood East, Partickhill and Hyndland, City Centre East, Muirend and Old Cathcart and Blairdardie East, all at below 110 per 100,000.
There were 22 areas where the rate was between 50 and 199 per 100,000, shown as light grey on the map.
The number of areas where there were between zero and two cases – shown as white on the map, with the virus considered suppressed during that period – increased again, from 22 to 28 areas.
These included Sighthill and North Kelvin, which have both been in the lowest category for five weeks in a row.
The other areas with between zero and two cases were Wyndford, Springburn East and Cowlairs, Shettleston South, Shettleston
North, Shawlands West, Shawlands East, Scotstoun South and West, Mount Vernon North and Sandyhills, Mount Florida, Kingston West and Dumbreck, Kingspark South, Kelvindale, Ibrox East and Cessnock, Gallowgate North and Bellgrove, Dowanhill, City Centre West, City Centre South, Carntyne, Carmyle and Mount Vernon South, Carmunnock South, Carmunnock North, Cardonald South and East, Calton and Gallowgate, Barmulloch, Anniesland East and Alexandra Parade.
The First Minister is today announcing the route map out of lockdown for Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon said it will be slow and careful and dependent on suppressing the virus to as low a level as possible.
The plan will be to set out an order of priority and proposed phases, with periods of at least three weeks between them, to gradually ease current Level Four restrictions and then, when it is safe to do so, return to more geographically variable levels.
Sturgeon said: “We know we cannot continue in lockdown indefinitely and we must plan a gradual phased return to as much normality as possible.”
She confirmed that Covid-19 cases had fallen.
She added: “This means we can begin to consider how, carefully and gradually, we can return to some normality in Scotland.
“However, to keep moving in the right direction and avoid setbacks caution will be necessary, which is why the framework will be clear about the need to move in a gradual way.”