Perth and Kinross still has greatest virus risk

Figures show area as having Scotland’s highest local rate of transmission

The risk of local coronavirus transmission in Perth and Kinross has fallen slightly but is still the worst in Scotland, according to new figures.

The region has been dealing with a “significant” cluster of cases linked to the 2 Sisters food processing plant in Coupar Angus, which grew overnight on Thursday to include 157 factory workers and 20 community contacts.

A weekly Scottish Government report considers whether the current number of Covid-19 infections exceeds what health officials would expect at this stage of the epidemic, based on a modelling system from Warwick University.

Areas with an “exceedance level” above six are deemed at higher risk of local transmission and may require “greater vigilance”, says the report.

This week’s report, for the seven days to August 24, found exceedance in Perth and Kinross fell from 12.7 to 11.25, while Dundee rose from 7.7 to 5.79. Angus saw a rise from 4.3 to 4.52 for the period.

Aberdeen, which came in at 3.6 last week as it dealt with the tail-end of a major cluster linked to city pubs, dropped out of the list entirely.

City council co-leader Douglas Lumsden described last week’s findings, showing an exceedance level in Perth and Kinross more than three times Aberdeen’s, as “remarkable”.

He and his co-leader Jenny Laing had pressed Nicola Sturgeon to lift the city’s lockdown from August 22 but was overruled by the first minister.

The Scottish Government later said measures would be lifted from August 24 to bring Aberdeen “broadly in line with the rest of Scotland”.

Restaurants, pubs, casinos and other such premises opened from Wednesday, after environmental health checks.

The latest figures also reflect a worsening picture in a number of Scottish council areas, with Edinburgh at 8.1, and the Scottish Borders at 6.25 broke the threshold for the first time.

South Lanarkshire at 5.36, and South Ayrshire at 4.52, fell just below the limit.

The exceedance method is designed to be more robust than the R number – the average number of people infected by each person.

The Scottish Government’s latest modelling appears to show the R number has stayed the same, at between 0.8 and 1.2.

A transmission rate below one was previously seen as a critical factor for easing lockdown restrictions.