Coronavirus in Scotland: New figures reveal that case numbers are at their lowest rate since October

Scotland has recorded the lowest number of coronavirus cases since estimates began in October, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

ONS estimates that by the end of the week ending 24 Apil, 8,200 people in Scotland had coronavirus, which equates to one in 640 people.

The figures compare to this year’s Covid-19 peak on 22 January when it was estimated that 52,200 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the six weeks previous.

This equated to roughly 1 in 100 people.

The number of Covid-19 transmissions have continued to decrease in the six weeks leading up to the week ending April 24, ONS has confirmed.

Rowland Kao, professor of data science at the University of Edinburgh, said that while the “continued decline is good news and should be celebrated”, the ONS survey does not yet “provide us with more information about what recent changes in restrictions are doing”.

The estimate in Scotland of one case in every 640 people, is down from one in 560 reported last week.

The Office for National Statistics has published its weekly report on coronavirus figures across the country.

Sarah Crofts, Head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: “We have come a long way since the beginning of the year, when we saw 20 times the level of infection we see now. The infection rate has continued to decrease across the UK and we are back to levels seen near the end of last summer.

“As we progress along the roadmap out of lockdown, we will continue to closely monitor infection rates across the UK with the Covid-19 Infection Survey.”

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