Positivity rates still too high to accelerate easing of lockdown

Covid-19 prevalence is still too high to accelerate the easing of lockdown, Jeane Freeman has said.

On Friday, Scotland recorded a coronavirus test positivity rateof3.3percent,thethirdday in a row it has been below 4 per cent and the fourth day below 5 per cent - the marker set by the World Health Organisation for the pandemic to be "under control".thenumberofpeople beingtreatedinhospitalalsofell toitslowestnumbersinceoctober 21, at 924.

But the Health Secretary warned such data does not meanscotlandcanmovequicker than planned out of lockdown.

In First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's road map for easing the

Boxing Day-imposed lockdown, the remainder of primary school pupils and more secondary students will not be able to return to class until at least March 15. All pupils are then not due back before April 5, when the stay at home order will be lifted.

Changes will be made at minimum intervals of three weeks, with Scotland then returning to the regional levels approach taken last autumn in the last week in April.

Despite the low numbers recorded in recent days, the Health Secretary told the coronavirus briefing on Friday that therewillnotbeanacceleration of the first part of the plan.

"The three-week period is really important," she said.

"We didn't pick three weeks randomly out of the air, we went on the basis of clinical advicethatsaidyouneedtogive it a reasonable period of time to be sure that progress isn't just being made but is being sustained.

"Now of course, if we see even better reduction in case numbers and case positivity... then as we move out of lockdown into stages then we may be able to move faster, but at this point our head room is really limited in terms of how well we have together brought cases down.

"We've done it very well, but not yet far enough to go further than was set out by the First Minister earlier this week."

National clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said perspective should be applied to the figures, adding: "If you thinkbacktolastsummer,these numbers were much, much lowerwhenwewerebeginning to get to very low numbers."

Prevalence of the virus, Prof Leitch said, has "stuck".