Nicola Sturgeon relaxes Scotland Covid rules
Nicola Sturgeon relaxes Scotland Covid rules
Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed coronavirus isolation in Scotland will be cut from 10 to seven days from midnight, if people are negative on lateral flow tests for the last two days and have no fever from.
no new restrictions but existing curbs remain in place. Crowds limited to 500 affecting football matches and concerts, 1m social distancing between groups in hospitality, table service only, nightclubs stay shut.
Nicola Sturgeon says this is unlikely to be the last variant we encounter and so she’s seeking ways to adapt that are proportionate and less restrictive. A revised strategic framework for how Scotland’s response will adapt is to be published in coming weeks.
While we are not proposing any additional measures at this stage, I will confirm that existing protections and guidance will remain in place for the coming week, pending further review. Finally, given that Omicron may not be the last new Covid variant we face, I will also signal some longer term work to consider the adaptations necessary to enable us to deal more proportionately and sustainably with any future phases of the pandemic. First though, today’s statistics.
16,103 positive cases were reported yesterday – that is 26.9% of all tests carried out.1,223 people are in hospital with Covid - that is 71 more than yesterday, and 544 more than at this time last week.42 people are in intensive care - the same as yesterday.
Sadly, a further 5 deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths under the daily definition to 9,872.
Once again, I send my condolences to everyone mourning a loved one.the surge of cases, driven by the extremely infectious Omicron variant, is continuing here in Scotland, across the UK, and in many other countries around the world.
Over the last week, the total number of new reported cases has increased by 87%."FM: However, the rapid and widespread transmission of Omicron is such that the daily recorded tally of cases - which has always been an underestimate of the true level of infection - now gives us an even less comprehensive indicator of how prevalent the virus is.The weekly survey published by the Office of National Statistics gives a better indication - in the week to 23 December, it suggested that 1 in 40 people in Scotland had Covid.
The proportion of people with Covid is likely to be even higher than that now, a few days later - and I would anticipate that we will see continued growth in the level of infection as work and school resume after the holiday period.
In short, Covid is significantly more widespread now than at any stage in the pandemic so far, and will almost certainly become even more so in days to come.
This, of course, has extremely serious implications for the NHS and social care. But it also has a severe and increasing impact on the economy and other critical services.
This is primarily due to very high numbers of people off work with Covid - but it is compounded by the wider requirements for self isolation.
In addition, while this is not a legal requirement, we are continuing to advise the public to limit contact with people in other households as far as possible - and to limit the number of households in any indoor gathering that does take place to a maximum of 3.
After two long years of this pandemic, asking people to cut all social interaction is not feasible -and it would be damaging to mental health and wellbeing. However, limiting contacts insofar as we can, and thinking carefully about the interactions that matter most to us, is important just now.It helps stem, to some extent, increases in transmission and so has a collective benefit.
