Our sacrifices are paying off in terms of fighting Covid
Last week, the Scottish Government took some important steps in setting out the way ahead to relax coronavirus restrictions and begin to experience something closer to normal life.
On Monday, our communities were enlivened by the sound and chatter of young children going to back to early learning and primary school.
It was such a joy to hear those happy sounds and to see the happiness for the children of being able to interact with their friends once again.
At the other end of the age spectrum, it was such a relief to see a resumption of visiting for relatives in our care homes after such a long period of restrictions.
On Tuesday we set out a series of three-week milestones that would enable us to secure a greater return to schooling for more pupils and for college and university students, relaxation of the socialising rules, resumption of non-contact sports for 12 to 17 year-olds, the re-opening of places of worship and the removal of the stay-at-home requirements.
The hope is to be able to deliver all of that by the end of April.
Thereafter, our aim would be the gradual relaxation of other restrictions to enable further economic and social activity to take place.
The pace of all of these steps is dependent on our success as a community at suppressing the prevalence of the virus and the roll out of the vaccination programme.
On each of these fronts there is good news.
The number of positive cases in Scotland is falling and now sits just below 100 cases per 100,000.
At its peak in January, it sat at over 300.
Over the last few days the positivity rate has been under five per cent which is the World Health Organisation definition of a pandemic under control.
The vaccination programme is going well and nearly 1.6 million adults in Scotland have received their first dose, representing more than one third of that grouping.
The programme is large and well-organised with a capacity to deliver 400,000 jabs each week.
The only limiting factors are the supply of the vaccine and the need to ensure we run a smooth second dose programme as well.
So there is room for a greater level of optimism about where we find ourselves and what lies ahead.
That has only been possible because of the enormous sacrifices that have been made by members of the public in complying with the restrictions and following the stay-at-home requirement.
That has placed great strain on everyone.
I am profoundly grateful for all that has been contributed.
There remains the possibility that we can face bumps in the road.
The weekend news of examples of the Brazil variant of the virus being in Scotland is a cause for concern and we need to be prepared to take necessary measures – such as the quarantine arrangements – to keep the pandemic under control.
But there is now light at the end of the tunnel and we can be hopeful that better days lie ahead.
Mothers walking their children home from school were alarmed after a man was seen staggering in front of traffic in a busy street.
But when 20 year-old Owen Leitch was traced by officers, he unleashed a volley of abuse and started head-butting the inside of their van after he was arrested.
The accused, of High Street, Burrelton, was ordered to complete further time on the Right Track scheme, designed to keep youngsters on the straight and narrow, when he appeared at Perth Sheriff Court recently.
He admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in Perth’s Scott Street on November 21, 2019.
He acted in an aggressive manner and made offensive remarks which were aggravated by prejudice relating to disability.
The court was told that police received“multiple calls”from members of the public after Leitch was seen disrupting traffic.
He had a cut to his nose and forehead, which appeared to have been caused by him falling to the ground.
“Police had to hold onto him to stop him falling over,”explained the fiscal.
The court was told Leitch started lashing out violently and swore at the officers.
He ignored warnings to calm down and when put in the back of the police vehicle he“started to head butt the inside of the cage.”
The accused, who was represented by local lawyer Pauline Cullerton, appeared for a review of his progress on Right Track last week.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said he was“doing pretty well”but the scheme organiser wanted to keep him“under her wing.”
Sentence was further deferred on Leitch until June 9.