The latest figures detailing the number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours in Scotland have been announced.
The statistics in Scotland as at 1 February 2021 are shown below as confirmed by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the daily media briefing when she was joined by Interim Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith.
The mass vaccination centre at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) opened its doors today and has capacity to vaccinate 21,000 people a week.
The First Minister highlights there will be no briefing on Tuesday but she will update parliament at just after 2.00pm. The statement will include steps the government wants to take to ease out of lockdown at a later stage. She said that the lockdown is working and we need to take some encouragement from that, but that cases are still too high. She also said she will update parliament tomorrow on the government’s intentions on supervised quarantine in Scotland – which will in some cases be different from England and will give an update on the vaccination programme.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Even with the vaccine programme there is still more that we need to do. We need to stop strains coming in to the country.”
At today’s date 98% of those living in older care homes and 88% of the staff working there have been vaccinated. 80% of those over 80 who are living in the community have been vaccinated and the First Minister says the programme is on track. The vaccination is not effective until about two weeks after the person receives it, so she reminds everyone about FACTs.
At 24 January, according to National Records of Scotland 7,902 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate, according to weekly statistics published by National Records of Scotland (NRS).
| Date | Newly reported cases of Covid-19 | Cases in Lothian | New positive tests | Test positivity rate | Newly reported deaths | Number of deaths according to daily measurement | Patients in ICU with confirmed Covid-19 | Patients in hospital with confirmed Covid-19 | Total number of cases since beginning of pandemic | Number of first vaccinations administered | |
| 1 February 2021 | 848 | 111 | 9.5% | 6 | 6,112 | 143 | 1,958 | 180,533 | 575897 | ||
| 31 January 2021 | 1,003 | 121 | 14,163 | 8.1% | 6 | 6,106 | 143 | 1,941 | 179,685 | 566,269 | |
| Highest and lowest numbers of newly reported cases since mid December 2020 | |||||||||||
| 7 January 2021 | 2,649 | 357 | 11.3% | 78 | 100 | 1,467 | 143,715 | ||||
| 16 December 2020 | 689 | 5.9% | 38 | 49 | 1,031 | 18,644 | |||||
You can also see the latest numbers laid out visually on the Travelling Tabby website here. It is updated at 3pm daily.
To minimise the risk of spreading the virus, you must stay at home as much as possible. By law, in a level 4 area, you can only leave your home (or garden) for an essential purpose.
There is a list of examples of reasonable excuses below. Although you can leave home for these purposes, you should stay as close to home as possible. Shop on-line or use local shops and services wherever you can. Travel no further than you need to reach to a safe, non-crowded place to exercise in a socially distanced way. To minimise the risk of spread of Coronavirus it is crucial that we all avoid unnecessary travel.
Examples of reasonable excuses to go out:
for work or an activity associated with seeking employment, or to provide voluntary or charitable services, but only where that cannot be done from your home.
for education including, school, college, university or other essential purposes connected with a course of study.
for essential shopping, including essential shopping for a vulnerable person. You should use online shopping or shops and other services in your immediate area wherever you can.
to obtain or deposit money, where it is not possible to do so from home.
for healthcare, including COVID-19 testing and vaccination.
for childcare or support services for parents or expectant parents.
for essential services, including services of a charitable or voluntary nature such as food banks, alcohol or drug support services.
to access public services where it is not possible to do so, including from home:
services provided to victims (such as victims of crime),
social-care services,
accessing day care centres,
services provided by the Department for Work and Pensions,
services provided to victims (including victims of crime),
asylum and immigration services and interviews,
waste or recycling services,
to provide care, assistance, support to or respite for a vulnerable person
to provide or receive emergency assistance.
to participate in or facilitate shared parenting.
to visit a person in an extended household.
to meet a legal obligation including satisfying bail conditions, to participate in legal proceedings, to comply with a court mandate in terms of sentence imposed or to register a birth.
for attendance at court including a remote jury centre, an inquiry, a children’s hearing, tribunal proceedings or to resolve a dispute via Alternative Dispute Resolution.
for essential animal welfare reasons, such as exercising or feeding a horse or going to a vet.
local outdoor recreation, sport or exercise, walking, cycling, golf, or running that starts and finishes at the same place (which can be up to 5 miles from the boundary of your local authority area) as long as you abide by the rules on meeting other households
to attend a marriage ceremony or registration of a civil partnership.
to attend a funeral or for compassionate reasons which relate to the end of a person’s life. This includes gatherings related to the scattering or interring of ashes, a stone setting ceremony and other similar commemorative events.
if you are a minister of religion or worship leader, for the purposes of leading an act of worship (broadcast or online), conducting a marriage or civil partnership ceremony or a funeral.
to donate blood.
for activities in connection with moving home (including viewing a property), or for activities in connection with the maintenance, purchase, sale, letting, or rental of residential property that the person owns or is otherwise responsible for. Travelling for the purposes of undertaking essential work on a property other than your main residence should not be used as a pretext for a holiday. You should not stay longer than for the length of time required to undertake the necessary work.
to avoid injury, illness or to escape a risk of harm.
for those involved in professional sports, for training, coaching or competing in an event.
to visit a person receiving treatment in a hospital, staying in a hospice or care home, or to accompany a person to a medical appointment.
to register or vote in a Scottish or UK Parliament, Local Government or overseas election or by-election, including on behalf of someone else by proxy
to visit a person detained in prison, young offenders institute, remand centre, secure accommodation or other place of detention.
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You can only meet people from another household outdoors and in indoor public spaces for certain reasons, such as for work, to join your extended household, for sport, exercise, social interaction or to provide care and support for a vulnerable person. This can include providing emotional support for someone whose wellbeing is at risk, including for those who are isolated because of disability or a caring situation. Read Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for unpaid carers
Up to 2 people from 2 separate households can meet outdoors for sport, exercise or social interaction.
Children under the age of 12 from these households do not count towards the total number of people permitted to gather outdoors.
Children under 12 do not need to maintain physical distance from others indoors or outdoors.
The members of an individual or extended household can meet outdoors for sport, exercise or social interaction.
Those at a higher risk of severe illness from coronavirus (including those who had been shielding, people 70 and over, people who are pregnant and people with an underlying medical condition) should strictly follow the physical distancing guidance.
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
