Nicola Sturgeon briefing Recap: First Minister updates Scotland as coronavirus cases rise
Nicola Sturgeon will be giving an update on coronavirus in Scotland on Friday afternoon at around 12.15.
Follow here for all updates.
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Nicola Sturgeon briefing RECAP: Follow here for all updates
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Scotland records highest ever daily case increase this week
On Wednesday, 5,021 new coronavirus cases were recorded – the highest ever figure for a single day.
Nicola Sturgeon will kick off her coronavirus briefing shortly by announcing the figures for the last 24 hours.
6,835 new cases today
First Minister confirms that there was another “sharp rise” in cases as another record breaking figure was recorded today.
Coronavirus figures in the last 24 hours
6,835 new cases and four more deaths were recorded.
8,103 people are in hospital and 47 are in intensive care.
4,095,463 people have had there first dose of the vaccine.
3,629,482 people have had their second dose of the vaccine.
FM: “We are not considering a circuit breaker lockdown"
FM: “We can’t ignore the current rise in cases.
“My job is not to be popular.
“It is to take any decisions, no matter how difficult that are necessary to keep us safe and I will certainly not hesitate to do that.”
FM: “If you are eligible and if you haven’t done so already, get vaccinated.
“If you have doubts about being vaccinated, go to a centre anyway and talk to staff.
“Test yourself regularly. If you have the virus but are not displaying symptoms you have a chance of finding out before you go to work or to socialise.
“Testing regularly makes it less likely to inadvertently pass the virus on - this is a really important mitigation.”
FM: “Please continue to follow the rules that are in place.
“Even the basic steps of wearing face coverings on public transport, opening a window, increased ventilation.
“Try to keep a safe distance from other households even though it’s not the law.
“Remember to wash your hands and surfaces regularly.
“As legal restrictions on our lives have been lifted, these basic measures become more important. “
Asked where the “tipping point” is for when restrictions will be re-implemented FM said: “It is not that binary, we monitor this on an ongoing basis.
“The change of how much we look at case numbers and numbers in hospitals, that has been changing because of vaccination.
“We don’t ignore case numbers completely, but we do look now more at the harm indicators; how many people are in hospital, how many people are being admitted to ICU.
“Thankfully these numbers are at a much lower level than they would have been if case numbers were so high [without vaccination]”
FM: “Delta is really infectious”
Professor Jason Leitch: “There are 167 more people in hospital than there were last Friday which would suggest that harm is increasing.
“But it’s not increasing in the way it did in wave one or two.”
JL: “It’s right that large events are going ahead.
“I’m never going to call something in the middle of a pandemic safe or unsafe but events can always be safer.
“If you’re going, or you’re the organisers, there are things that you can do to make them safer.”
FM: There will be greater risk when you are travelling to an event, such as by car, bus or tube, so it is important to take the basic measures seriously.
“Take a lateral flow test before you go, wear face coverings and be careful of en-route hygiene.”
FM asks JCVI to make their decision quickly on young people so they can get on with vaccinating 12-17 year-old’s if it is safe to do so.
FM: “I have concerns about all parts of Scotland"
FM: Some hospitals will have to take difficult decision but “I support health boards taking the decisions they think are necessary to treat people.”
Asked about nurses having to self-isolate if living with a positive case despite testing negative.
FM: “Judgements have to made made in order to limit transmission in hospitals.”
JL: “We are looking at it again but fundamentally we think the risk is higher for health and social care workers if they live with a positive case.
“Because of the job they do, not because of the life the lead.
“This is to protect patients and families in the health service”
FM: “When you have restrictions, even if you call them protections, they still harm people.
“Restrictions do their own harm and we have to balance that harm, they stop people interacting with family and friends.
“They harm people’s well-being because they increase peoples isolation, they harm the economy and threaten people’s jobs
“We can take a less restrictive approach right now because of the vaccination, but we can’t be complacent.”
FM: “If we keep seeing the virus run out of control all sorts of things may happen, but what we’ve got to do is operate and behave in a way that stops that and tries to limit transmission.
“The key message is if we all behave, in line with the advice people have been given, we have a chance of slowing the transmission.
“We think it is right, it’s not easy, i’ve got a niece and nephew in that school age group who have to wear face coverings.
“We don’t want that to be a requirement for longer than necessary but we think it is an essential mitigation.
“I promise young people we won’t do it for longer than we think is absolutely necessary.”
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