Jab offers relief from restrictions

Tougher restrictions to drive down future surges in covid cases may not be needed as the vaccine continues to offer protection against the virus.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday that while the infection rates were rising across places like Renfrewshire, the vaccine seems to be protecting against large-scale hospital admissions.

The local authority area has seen covid cases treble since the start of the month.

It is currently recording an infection rate of 57 cases per 100,000 of population.

Typically areas with an infection rate of more than 50 are given Level 3 status.

But during her nationwide briefing Ms Sturgeon said the vaccine was proving highly effective, suggesting future outbreaks would not always lead to an automatic uplift in restrictions.

She said: “Increasingly, we are monitoring whether and to what extent vaccination might be breaking that link between rising case numbers and significantly rising cases of serious illness and death.

“And if that is the case, we hope that our response can evolve too.

“In short, while care will still be needed, it may mean that we don’t have to react quite so aggressively with tough restrictions in the face of rising case numbers.”

Ms Sturgeon said instead the government may rely more on things like testing and vaccination, and on good public health practices on the part of the public.

She said the government would increasingly look at the roll out of the vaccine as a “key factor” in its decision making in the weeks and months ahead.

To date, 104,011 people aged 18 and over in Renfrewshire have received their first dose Covid-19 vaccine.

That accounts for 71.6 per cent of the adult population.

A further 56,676 have had a second jab.

The First Minister did however warn that her initial focus was to drive down rising case numbers in places such as Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.

While cases in Glasgow have risen marginally in the past week, Ms Sturgeon said the infection rate appeared to be stabilising in the past 48 hours, a pattern also being replicated in East Renfrewshire.

The next Covid-19 update will be provided on Friday.