A public health chief at NHS Grampian has called Moray’s progress following a spike in Covid cases “incredibly pleasing” – but warned the situation is still “fluid”.
At the start of this month, the region was experiencing the highest levels of coronavirus anywhere in Scotland, with 77.2 cases per 100,000 people over one week.
The origins of around a third of those cases were unknown to health bosses, leading to fears of community transmission, and Moray was kept in Level 3 restrictions when the rest of the country moved down to Level 2 on Monday.
However, the number of cases has now fallen to around 40 per 100,000 population – roughly equal to a number of other areas currently in the lower level of restrictions.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to make an announcement on whether the region will remain in Level 3 tomorrow.
‘Keep accessing testing’
Chris Littlejohn, deputy director of public health at NHS Grampian and chairman of the incident management team (IMT) dealing with the outbreak, said: “It is incredibly pleasing to see Moray keep making progress.
“However, the IMT agreed the situation remains fluid and there are still clusters which could get out of control.
“To combat this, people in the area should keep accessing testing, available in a number of community locations.
“Please don’t think one negative result is enough; regular testing will stop this virus in its tracks.
“Early detection of cases allows our contact tracing teams to work quickly and provide self-isolation guidance, breaking the chain of transmission.”
Encouraging numbers
No Covid cases at all were reported in Moray today, with all 10 new NHS Grampian cases coming in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Meanwhile, the health board covering Glasgow, which also remained in Level 3 this week, today recorded over 200 cases for the first time since March 16.
All over-18s in Moray are expected to have been offered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of this month.
The most recent figures show 80% of 40 to 49-year-olds, 64% of 30 to 39-year-olds and 68% of 18 to 29-year-olds in the region have received their initial injection already.
Mr Littlejohn added: “This is an amazing result in such a short period of time. If you are still to be vaccinated, please come forward.
“At the risk of repeating myself, please keep accessing testing. We are still seeing people testing positive without displaying the typical Covid-19 symptoms, or indeed any symptoms at all.
“There are a range of testing facilities available in the community, or you can order test kits to be delivered to your home, via the UK Government website.”