Nicola Sturgeon says the situation in Glasgow is being monitored 'very closely' amid fears Indian variants of coronavirus are causing a spike of cases in the city.
On Tuesday, the First Minister announced that along with the majority of mainland Scotland, Glasgow will move to Level 2 lockdown restrictions on Monday, meaning the likes of pubs and restaurants will be able to serve alcohol indoors for the first time in months and we'll be able to hug our loved ones in private settings.
However, cases in Glasgow are now reported to be at the level of 74 per 100,000 people, while there were 141 new covid-19 cases in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde region registered yesterday (Wednesday).
Speaking about the so-called B16172 variant, Professor Linda Bauld said: "this may be some of the cases" in the south side of the city.
The Edinburgh University expert added there has been a "big rise in cases in those communities", warning the Indian variant "may be even more transmissible" that the form of covid which spread throughout Scotland this winter, during the second wave of the pandemic.
Follow all of today’s coronavirus headlines as Glasgow case spike ‘monitored closely’
She added that if this is the case, the response from the Test and Protect contract tracing service "needs to be super-robust".
Prof Bauld also suggested that household mixing could be responsible for the rise in cases in Glasgow.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday, she said: "There has been a big rise in cases in those communities, so as we look ahead to Monday when there is going to be a lot of easing, questions will be asked about what is the profile of those cases when it comes to variants and what do we do to try to get on top of what looks like a cluster of outbreaks linked to household transmission."
Prof Bauld stressed it is not for her to decide if Glasgow should have restrictions eased to Level 2 along with most of the rest of Scotland on Monday.
Last night Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "We are seeing an increase in cases in Glasgow just now and, amidst concern about the so-called Indian variant, we are monitoring it very closely."
Here's a breakdown of the latest Scottish Government stats concerning coronavirus in Glasgow, since the beginning of May.
Cases over seven day period in Glasgow City Council area:
- May 3 - May 9 - 369
Cases over previous seven days per 100k of population in Glasgow City Council area:
- May 1 - 28.3
May 2 - 27
May 3 - 27.8
May 4 - 30.8
May 5 - 34.9
May 6 - 42.8
May 7 - 48.5
May 8 - 52.1
May 9 - 58.3
Daily positive cases in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde region:
- May 1 - 46
May 2 - 38
May 3 - 33
May 4 - 35
May 5 - 25
May 6 - 94
May 7 - 73
May 8 - 88
May 9 - 77
May 10 - 49
May 11 - 95
May 12 - 141
To see the latest coronavirus stats in full, you can visit the Scottish Government website here.
For the latest on the developing story with regards to covid-19 in Glasgow and for further updates on coronavirus in Scotland throughout the day, you can follow our live blog here.
