Coronavirus – Monday’s figures

Public Health Scotland publishes the latest data on Covid-19 in Scotland each day. The figures are reproduced in our table below.

The number of cases is falling and the number of people in hospital was below 1,000 for the first time on Thursday since 11 September. The number of people receiving their first dose of vaccine is on the rise, reflecting that 12 to 15-year-olds are now eligible for vaccination.

The new NHS App to download a QR code which represents your vaccine status is now available – click on the image below. There were reports of difficulties in accessing the certificate which is required to get into certain larger venues including night clubs. The government said on Friday that it was simply a matter of too many people trying to access it at the same time and it ought to work now.

(Personally, I cannot get past the “External Identity Validation System” page.) John Swinney, Deputy First Minister, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that 280,000 people have managed to get the app to work, but there is a very small number of cases where people cannot get the QR code to download. He said that some people will have to continue to rely on paper vaccine passports.

The UK traffic light system for international travel has been scrapped from today and now a destination is either on the red list or not. Fully vaccinated adults over 18 from over 50 countries can come to the UK without any testing requirements except for one single test taken two days after arrival. This also includes under 18s who are unvaccinated.

You can find the red list of countries – anyone arriving from there must go into a quarantine hotel or take tests – on the UK Government website here.

If you wish to see the figures up to 31 August and 30 September for each day (with some highs and lows from the past few months) then please read below and also read this article here.

Scotland has now moved beyond Level 0 but the legal requirement for wearing masks in indoor settings is to be retained largely as it has been.

Any figures marked with * are affected by IT or other reporting issues.

Deaths involving COVID-19 Week 38 – 20 to 26 September

As at 26 September, 10,991 deaths have been registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) was mentioned on the death certificate, according to statistics published today by National Records of Scotland (NRS).

In the week 20 – 26 September, 165 deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, 30 more than last week.

28 deaths were of people aged under 65, 28 were aged 65-74 and there were 109 deaths in people aged 75 or over. 76 deaths were male, 89 were female.

Glasgow City (23 deaths), South Lanarkshire (14 deaths) and Renfrewshire (11 deaths) had the highest numbers of deaths at council level. In total, 27 out of 32  council areas had at least one death last week.

124 deaths occurred in hospitals, 21 were in care homes and 20 were at home or in a non-institutional setting.

Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said:“The latest figures show that last week there were 165 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is 30 more deaths than last week, and represents the highest weekly total we have seen since late February.”

“The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1,212, which is 205, or 20%, more than the five year average.” 

Beyond Level 0

The legal requirement for physical distancing and limits on gatherings has been removed from Monday 9 August when all venues across Scotland are able to re-open.

Some protective measures will stay in place such as the use of face coverings indoors and the collection of contact details as part of Test and Protect. Capacity limits of 2000 people indoors and 5000 people outdoors will also remain in place although some exceptions may be possible on a case by case basis. These will be reviewed on a three weekly basis to ensure they remain proportionate.

Adults identified as close contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 will also no longer be automatically required to self-isolate for 10 days from 9 August. Anyone who is double-vaccinated with at least two weeks passed since their second dose and who has no symptoms will be able to end self-isolation if they return a negative PCR test. The same conditions will also apply to anyone aged between five and 17 years old, even if they have not been vaccinated. The requirement to take a PCR test will not apply to children under the age of five.

Test and Protect will also implement revised guidance for under 18s. This means that the blanket isolation of whole classes in schools will no longer happen and a targeted approach, that only identifies children and young people who are higher risk close contacts, will be adopted. Fewer young people will have to self-isolate, and most will be asked to self-isolate for a much shorter period of time. To allow time to monitor the impacts of these changes, the majority of the mitigations that were in place in schools in the previous term will be retained for up to six weeks. This will help support a safe and sustainable return to education after the summer break.

While the gateway condition on vaccination has been met, with 92% of those over the age of 40 protected by two doses of the vaccine, there are still many more people who have not had the vaccine, cannot have it, or are not yet eligible for it. Invitations for vaccines are now going out to 12 to 17 year olds with specific health conditions that make them more vulnerable to Covid. This follows the recent advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. The government expects to have offered first doses to this group by the end of August.

The JCVI has now recommended vaccination to young people aged 16 and 17.