SCOTLAND’S infection rate could be above 1 for the first time since the middle of November – less than a week before rules are relaxed over the festive period.
An analysis paper published by the Scottish Government has revealed that the reproduction rate, the R number, which is a figure of how many people each infected person passes the virus onto, “is currently estimated as being between 0.9 and 1.1”.
It adds: “The number of new daily infections for Scotland is estimated as being between 49 and 144, per 100,000 people.”
The report points out that during an eight-week period between September 9 and October 28, “R was greater than one”, which the experts say led to “exponential growth in infections”.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon suggested the R number had “risen slightly”.
She added: “That underlines the importance of having taken a cautious approach to this week’s levels review and why we have reinforced our guidance to people ahead of the Christmas period.”
READ MORE: Scotland's hospitality sector 'could take until 2022 to recover'
She spoke as the latest Covid-19 figures for Scotland showed 30 deaths and 858 positive tests in the past 24 hours.
“The fact there is a window of opportunity over Christmas is a pragmatic recognition that some people may not be willing to leave loved ones alone and therefore it is an attempt to put some risk-reducing boundaries around that,” she said.
“Let me reiterate that our clear advice is the safest way to spend Christmas this year is to stay within our own homes and households, and to keep any interaction with other households outdoors.
“We now have a real prospect of vaccination within weeks for many and within months for most. All of us should therefore do all we can to keep each other safe until then.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel