‘Virus numbers going in the wrong direction’
New crackdown fears in Scotland’s 3 largest NHS regions as Covid surges out of control
FEARS are growing that people living in three of Scotland’s biggest health board areas may face further coronavirus restrictions.
The number of cases across Scotland soared by 775 yesterday amid further signs that the virus is spiralling out of control in parts of the country.
Particular concern was raised about the figures in three areas: Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where there were 324 new cases, Lothian, with 164 new positive tests, and Lanarkshire, where another 102 were confirmed to have the virus.
At her Covid briefing yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘There will be a meeting today of the National Incident Management Team and they will be taking a look obviously at a range of issues, but in particular at the current situation in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.’
Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, said the numbers continue to ‘go in the wrong direction’ in Scotland and across Europe.
He cited the figures showing 63.1 i nfections per 100,000 people across Scotland, and said Glasgow city is ‘at the top of that unfortunate league table’.
Professor Leitch said: ‘Many of those positive cases still are in halls of residence and in the student population. That doesn’t reassure me particularly. As you’ve heard me say many times from this podium, that will leak into our more vulnerable community – and you’re not immune if you’re a student. All of the numbers are going in the wrong direction.’
He said the household visiting restrictions introduced a fortnight ago will not have had an impact on the figures but he is ‘hopeful’ that they will. Professor Leitch said that if the National Incident Management Team gives advice on further restrictions ‘that will take its course’.
However, he added: ‘Today, there are no existing plans to tighten up restrictions in those local areas.’
Scotland has also recorded four new coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, while the total number of cases has passed 30,000. There are 175 people in hospital with the virus, an increase of 21 in 24 hours, with 19 in intensive care.
The 775 cases recorded yesterday are 12.6 per cent of newlytested individuals, up from 10.8 per cent the previous day.
The remaining cases are spread across nine other health board areas. A total of 30,687 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 29,912 on Thursday. The four latest deaths, of patients who first tested positive for the virus in the previous 28 days, take the toll under this measure to 2,526.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘These numbers today, not just of cases but perhaps more particularly hospital admissions, numbers in intensive care and numbers of people dying, really should remind us that this resurgence of Covid is something that we have to take very seriously.’
Earlier this week, Professor Leitch appeared at Holyrood to discuss the possibility of a socalled ‘circuit breaker’ – which, if introduced, would mean Scotland returning to a strict lockdown for two to three weeks.
However, he raised doubts over the merit of such a move.
He told MSPs: ‘A circuit breaker is not the answer. The answer is whole population measures all the time until we get science to get us out the other end.’
‘That doesn’t reassure me’