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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Peter Davidson

Covid in Scotland: The council areas that could remain at Level 2 lockdown

Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce if Scotland can move down a lockdown level when she updates MSPs at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

But not every council area is expected to shift down to Level One restrictions from June 7 when the changes come into effect.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has already indicated that some parts of the country may remain at Level 2 due to a higher number of cases, the test positivity and the people ill in hospital with the deadly virus.

Glasgow, which is currently in Level 3, is expected to move down to Level 2 on Saturday. A decision will be made on the city no later than Wednesday.

It is however not expected to shift to Level 1 in a week time.

Concerns have been raised for the city of Edinburgh (Daily Record)

Yousaf said cases are starting to rise in some parts of the country due to the spread of the Indian variant.

He said: "I think people would understand where there are still rising case numbers, where there is rising test positivity and if people are getting severely ill and hospitalised with the new variant then it may be that parts of the country would move to Level One, but in other parts of the country we decide to keep in Level Two."

Over the last seven-day period from May 21 to May 27 there have been 3,160 cases across the country.

Based on the number of cases and cases per 100,000 population here are the council areas in Scotland that could remain at Level Two:

Glasgow City

Buchanan Street in Glasgow (Daily Record)

Scotland's biggest city is expected to move down to Level Two on Saturday after being stuck at Level Three for longer than the rest of the country.

Of the 3,160 cases in Scotland in the last seven-day period 836 have been identified in the Glasgow boundary.

Cases per 100,000 currently sit at 132.

It is unlikely Glasgow will move down to Level One with the majority of the mainland.

Edinburgh

Concerns have been raised about the city of Edinburgh in the last couple of days due to the rise in cases.

On Friday, Professor Devi Sridhar who is an adviser to Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "Edinburgh's not looking great. Probably bc of increased mixing, new variant (B.1617), loads of tourists & still majority of people not fully vaccinated. Testing, supported isolation, vaccinations & avoiding risky settings (crowded, indoor, poorly ventilated) are tools we have."

In the seven-day period 377 cases were identified in the capital with 71.8 cases per 100,000.

Renfrewshire

A number of regions around Glasgow have seen cases rise in the last week and Renfrewshire is one of them.

People testing positive for the virus isn't as high as it is in Edinburgh, however 260 cases have been identified between May 21 and May 27.

With 145.2 cases per 100,000 it is one of the highest in the country.

South Lanarkshire

To the south of Glasgow city cases have spiked in the last week as well.

Due to the size of the population the cases per 100,000 in South Lanarkshire is 69.3, however the number of people testing positive in the area will raise concerns for the clinical experts.

222 positive cases have been identified in the area between May 21 to May 27.

North Lanarkshire

Another council area with high cases is North Lanarkshire.

The cases per 100,000 is low in comparison to some areas of Scotland, with it currently sitting at 60.1.

In the seven-day period 205 cases have been identified across the council area.

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