New cross-border Covid outbreak
Last updated 1st Jul 2020
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says the public should "take some assurance'' from a new outbreak of Covid-19 in Dumfries and Galloway near the border with England.
At the daily briefing Scotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch revealed there has been a "complex but small cluster'' of cross-border coronavirus infections detected in the south-west of Scotland and north-west of England.
He said: "A number of cases have been identified around Gretna and Annan, and it's worth noting that the last positive case in Dumfries and Galloway Health Board was on the 22nd of June.
"This is a complex but small cluster captured in different testing areas; in a hospital testing site, in a mobile testing unit and in a drive-through testing unit.''
Mr Leitch also confirmed that two people who work at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray have tested positive for the presence of coronavirus antibodies, suggesting that they have previously been infected.
The two individuals are self-isolating and contact tracing is ongoing, he added.
Commenting on the suspected coronavirus outbreak between Scotland and England, Jason Leitch said: "We understand this cluster is single figures and it is cross-border.
"[It's] exactly what we expected to happen at this stage of the pandemic." - Prof Jason Leitch
"That adds a complexity because some of the testing will have been done in England and some of the testing will have been done in Scotland.
"The teams have brought that together and discussed it at that assessment group yesterday and decided these cases are connected.
"So, therefore, they are going to put in place a cross-border incident management team which is exactly what Health Protection Scotland are meant to do with Public Health England, and make sure that we are managing everything we can around the family, the workplaces and everything else.
"Contact tracing has already begun, contact tracing begins from the moment the positive test is given to an individual, whether that's in Moray or in Dumfries and Galloway.''
Jason Leitch added that the discovery of linked Covid-19 cases around the Scottish border "is exactly what we expected to happen at this stage of the pandemic.
"Clusters are easier to deal with than sustained community transmission, so we can use precision public health measures, health protection teams, to go to and manage that individual cluster and control it.
"That's a much easier process than having to suggest to the Cabinet Secretary and the First Minister that 'we've got community transmission again, could you please think about locking down either an area or the whole country?'.''
Nicola Sturgeon added: "Although everything associated with this virus is concerning and causes people anxiety - and I include myself in that - I do think people should also take some assurance from what Jason has just been outlining, because that shows that these systems are in place, and these systems are kicking in when they need to."
It comes as figures show the number of excess deaths in Scotland has fallen below the five-year average for the first time since the initial week of lockdown, figures show.
Data from the National Records of Scotland reveals that from June 22-28, there were 20 less deaths (1,006) than the average over the last five years (1,026).
It is the first time since the week of March 23-29 that the total number of weekly deaths has fallen below the average.
The weekly statistics also reveal the overall death toll for Covid-19 in Scotland is now 4,155, with 35 more deaths recorded in the last week - down 14 on the previous week.
This is the ninth weekly reduction in a row, and the lowest weekly total since mid-March.
Despite the Covid-19 deaths, the total fatality figure is lower than the five-year average as there have been fewer deaths from other causes such as cancer.
Covid-19 deaths accounted for 3% of all fatalities registered this week, down from a peak of 36% during the week of April 20-26.
Over the last 15 weeks since the first Covid-19 death in Scotland, the number of excess deaths was 4,906.
Of these, 2,463 were in care homes, 67% above average, and 2,417 were at home or in non-institutional settings - 56% above average.
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