Coronavirus in Scotland RECAP: First Minister gives lunchtime briefing | Glasgow to remain in higher level of restrictions for another week | Nicola Sturgeon warns case numbers rising in Scotland | Spike in Covid cases in Dundee | Boris Johnson says Olympics can ‘take place safely’ as Japan extends Covid crackdown
Hello, and welcome to our live blog for Friday, May 28.
Follow along for all the latest on the pandemic as well as live coverage of Nicola Sturgeon’s lunchtime Covid briefing, when the First Minister will announce whether Glasgow will move down to Level 2.
Coronavirus in Scotland LIVE: The latest updates on Covid-19 in Scotland and around the world
Key Events
- Glasgow could move to Level 2 next week
- Universities face ‘crunch time’ due to Brexit and pandemic
- 641 new Covid cases in Scotland reported on Friday
- One-jab Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved for use in the UK
One-jab Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved for use in the UK
A single-shot coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has been approved for use in the UK.
The vaccine, developed by Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical arm Janssen, has been shown to be 67% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe Covid-19, with studies suggesting it also offers complete protection from admission to hospital and death.
Announcing that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency had approved the safety of the jab, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is a further boost to the UK’s hugely successful vaccination programme, which has already saved over 13,000 lives, and means that we now have four safe and effective vaccines approved to help protect people from this awful virus.
“As Janssen is a single-dose vaccine, it will play an important role in the months to come as we redouble our efforts to encourage everyone to get their jabs and potentially begin a booster programme later this year.”
The UK has ordered 20 million doses of the vaccine, which England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, has previously said could be used for hard-to-reach groups of people, where recalling them for a second jab is not always successful.
PM suggests Olympics can ‘take place safely’ as Japan extends Covid crackdown
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested the Olympic Games “can take place safely” in Japan this summer, according to No 10, despite doubts over whether spectators can attend.
Japan has extended a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by 20 days, with infections still not slowing, as it prepares to host the Olympics in just over 50 days.
The state of emergency in the host capital was scheduled to end on Monday, but hospitals in some areas are still overflowing with Covid-19 patients and serious cases have recently hit new highs.
Olympic organisers must decide at around the end of the 20 days whether to allow any domestic fans at all, after overseas spectators were banned months ago.
Despite the extended measures, Mr Johnson appeared to offer his Japanese counterpart a vote of confidence from the UK during a phone call on Friday.
The 2020 Games have already been delayed by a year due to the pandemic, but the push to deliver on holding them in Tokyo has led to protests in Japan.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga this morning ahead of the UK’s G7 summit next month.
“The Prime Minister expressed his support for the Tokyo Olympics, and noted Japan’s efforts to ensure the Games can take place safely.”
Scots should do their “civic public duty” and get vaccinated, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Speaking at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, she said: “Getting vaccinated is in all of our best interests, whatever age we are.”
She added: “It’s also the most important thing we can all do to help our family, our friends and our neighbours – by getting vaccinated we’re helping reduce the overall harm and making it easier for all of us to get back to normal.
“Rolling up our sleeves – not once but twice – really is part of our civic public duty to each other and to the country right now.”
The First Minister also said Scots should be getting tested regularly, using the lateral flow tests available through the Government, along with following current public health advice.
People in Glasgow should “take heart” that coronavirus figures appear to be dropping, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister announced on Friday at the coronavirus briefing that Glasgow would move down to Level 2 from next Saturday if the current figures remain good.
“My message to the people of Glasgow is don’t lose heart, on the contrary, take heart from the progress that we are seeing,” she said.
“I live in Glasgow, so I know how hard this is from my own personal life, but please continue to help with all of the public health efforts that are in place because if we continue to do this then we will make that move down from Level 3 to Level 2 and then after that hopefully get back on track and down the levels further.”
Ms Sturgeon also said she would confirm if the rest of Scotland would be able to move to Level 1 on June 7, as planned, on Tuesday in Holyrood.
Glasgow will move to Level 2 from next Saturday if the current trajectory of Covid-19 continues, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister said at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh that the case numbers in Glasgow – 234 new cases were reported on Friday – were still “uncomfortably high” and it would be “premature” to move Scotland’s biggest city into Level 2 immediately.
Cases last week in Glasgow continued to rise by 30%, the First Minister reported, while test positivity remained around 4%, but public health experts have said the restrictions have had an impact on transmission in the city.
“There are some early signs that the situation is stabilising in Glasgow,” the First Minister said.
But she added: “Weighing up all of these different factors is inevitably really difficult – case numbers in Glasgow… are uncomfortably high, but we are seeing signs of progress.
“The view of the national incident management team is two-fold. Firstly, that it would be premature to move Glasgow out of Level 3 immediately this week while the situation remains so fragile.
“However, and secondly, if incidence continues to stabilise and assuming levels of hospitalisation remain reasonably stable, the incident management team has made clear to me that they would support a move to Level 2 from the end of next week.”
There is both “cause for concern” and “cause for optimism” in Scotland’s battle against coronavirus, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Speaking at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh on Friday, the First Minister said there still needed to be a “reasonable degree of caution” exercised.
Case numbers, she said, are on the rise in Scotland, with Friday’s daily case number the highest since March 25 and the R number in Scotland potentially rising as high as 1.3.
She said: “A key factor behind the increases… is that the new April-02 variant, which we think is more transmissible than most other types of the virus, probably now accounts for 50% or even more of our daily cases.”
She added: “The increase in cases so far does seem to be concentrated in younger age groups and this may indicate that vaccination is having a protective effect for older people which of course we want to see.”
The First Minister went on to say that the Scottish Government is monitoring the extent to which the vaccine programme is breaking the links between rising cases and “significantly rising cases of serious illness and death”.
Nicola Sturgeon announces Glasgow will remain in Level 3 for the time being. If positive signs continue, the city will move to Level 2 next Friday. Announcement promised on Wednesday
Two more deaths confirmed as case numbers rise
Scotland has recorded two coronavirus deaths and 641 cases in the past 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon said.
It means the death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – stands at 7,668.
Speaking at a coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said 234,312 people have now tested positive for the virus and the daily test positivity rate is 2.6%, up from 1.8% the previous day.
Of the new cases, 234 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 132 in Lothian and 104 in Lanarkshire.
A total of 90 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed Covid-19, up seven, with six patients in intensive care, up two.
So far, 3,196,051 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, up 21,244, and 1,971,006 have received their second dose, up 28,721.
Irn Bru maker reports boost from pub reopenings
Scottish drinks company AG Barr has said it is seeing encouraging trading as people return to restaurants, pubs and bars around the UK.
The business said it has been trading in line with expectations over the last four months, despite lockdown restrictions affecting much of the country over that period.
The Irn Bru maker reported no figures ahead of its annual general meeting on Friday, but shareholders were given a small insight into how the business has performed.
“Despite lockdown restrictions being in place across much of the first quarter, Barr soft drinks trading has been relatively strong since the start of the new financial year,” AG Barr told investors.
“As lockdown restrictions have eased, we have seen a positive impact on both our sales volume and mix, with a shift back towards ‘drink now’, hospitality and leisure.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will hold a coronavirus briefing at 12.15pm with national clinical director Jason Leitch.
Glasgow restrictions reviewed as experts say Covid cases stabilising
Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce whether Glasgow’s coronavirus restrictions will be eased, with experts suggesting case numbers are stabilising in the city.
Glasgow is the only part of Scotland under Level 3 lockdown rules, prohibiting non-essential travel out of the area and imposing greater restrictions on socialising, hospitality and businesses.
The First Minister is due to announce whether there will be any changes to the measures in place for Glasgow at a coronavirus briefing on Friday afternoon, a week after she moved Moray – the only other area in a higher tier – down to Level 2.
The daily Covid-19 statistics on Thursday revealed 170 new cases in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, slightly below the weekly average of 184.
According to the Public Health Scotland figures, that is 110.2 cases per 100,000 of the population over the past seven days – more than twice the figure of the next highest health board area – NHS Forth Valley which is on 52.2.
Broken down by area, Glasgow city has had 924 cases in the last week at a rate of 145.9 per 100,000 of the population – second only to Clackmannanshire which has a rate of 151.3 but has only seen 78 new cases over the seven days.
Following pleas from business owners for clarity about when they can fully reopen, Ms Sturgeon said on Thursday that there are “reasons to be optimistic” about the situation in the city.
She said she wants Glasgow back on track “as quickly as possible, but that’s got to be done responsibly and safely”.
The Hidden Door festival will return in September – and judging by this year’s venue, the event is going to be a gas!
The Hidden Door festival will return in September – and judging by this year’s venue, the event is going to be a gas!
All you need to know before Nicola Sturgeon's briefing in Scotland on Friday, May 28
As a review of the coronavirus restrictions is due, here is all you need to know before Nicola Sturgeon's briefing in Scotland on Friday, May 28.
Linda Bauld, professor of public health and behavioural scientist at the University of Edinburgh, said “things do look like they are stabilising in Glasgow”.
“I think what makes it different from last year is that it does seem most of the infections are in younger adults – that was the case last year – but it’s not translating through yet to high numbers of people in hospital because fewer older people are becoming infected,” she said.
Regarding Murdo Fraser’s point about a more targeted, neighbourhood approach, she said: “You could try and do that here, but I think you need to be very clear people, for example, couldn’t travel very much outside that area.
“It’s difficult to see how you would really have an impact, for example, keeping hospitality closed in Pollokshields West and not in other parts of Glasgow … because people move around.
“I understand Murdo’s point and I think what he’s saying is ‘Let’s be as targeted and local as possible’, which I welcome, but I think the ‘targeted and local’ needs to be the public health response rather than shutting things.”
The head of industry body UK Hospitality has called on the Government to extend support to the hospitality sector if the date for full lifting of restrictions is postponed.
Kate Nicholls told Sky News: “Businesses will be forced to choose between paying business rates their taxes on their property or paying their people and keeping the business afloat.”
She continued: “That is not a position we want our businesses to be in, and it can’t be right after 15 months of closure and heavy restrictions that the Government would suddenly cut the industry loose.”
Ms Nicholls said proper support was needed “to avoid many of them going bust in very short order as a result of those restrictions continuing”.
She added: “Even just a couple of extra weeks will be devastating for many because they’ve run out of cash they are existing on fumes at the moment, and the government support, however extensive it has been has not been enough to cover the costs.”
“The industry was haemorrhaging half-a-billion pounds a month, every month that it was closed,” she said.
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