Nicola Sturgeon set to relax Coronavirus restrictions

Nicola Sturgeon is set to update parliament on the latest Covid restrictions in Scotland later today.

The First Minister is expected to announce an easing of the rules, with the majority of mainland Scotland set to move to Level One of the government’s road map out of lockdown from next week.

Glasgow, where the Indian variant has surged in recent weeks, could potentially move from Level Three to Level Two. 

On Monday, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf urged caution. He warned that there may need to be some divergence between the regions. 

He told the BBC: "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."

However, despite rising case numbers, there is evidence the vaccination programme appears to be breaking the chain between rising cases and serious illness.

In the week ending May 18 there were 1,964 Covid cases in Scotland with an average of 9.6 hospital admissions per day. Last September, hospitals had an average admission of 22.1 per day.

On Twitter yesterday, Sturgeon shared an article by Professor Devi Sridhar on how "safe and effective vaccines, treatments and mass testing" could "permit governments to rethink their initial strategies and form a more sustainable plan for the future."

Writing in the Guardian, Sridhar said: “If governments are able to vaccinate 80-90 per cent of their population, Covid-19 will increasingly become a manageable health issue.

“If vaccines do indeed prevent people from dying or getting seriously ill, then the end of the pandemic is in sight for the countries that have high vaccine coverage, testing and treatments.”

Sturgeon tweeted: “It is absolutely the case that the key question for the Scottish government (and I’m sure governments elsewhere too) is whether and to what extent vaccines are breaking the link between cases and serious illnesses. Evidence so far is encouraging but we need to monitor.”