Hopes have been raised that Moray could be over the worst of the coronavirus outbreak which has kept the region locked down.
Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, has indicated the region is showing “real positive signs” with case numbers continuing to drop. The rate is currently around 50 cases per 100,000.
Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, she said: “I think we’ll need a couple more days to be sure that this is a definite trend but on all of the indicators that we look at – that’s cases, test positivity, looking at vaccinations and listening to what’s happening in local communities – I think the signs are looking really positive in Moray.”
Ms Evans said health bosses are “cautiously optimistic” that Moray will be lowered to Level 2 as the NHS have been seeing single digits of cases in the area each day.
NHS Grampian has aimed to vaccinate everyone over the age of 18 in Moray as part of their battle to lower cases. Currently, around half the 18-29 year olds and 60% of the 30-49 year olds have been vaccinated.
Uptake of the vaccine have been high in most age groups across Moray and the walk-in centres have proved to be a successful tactic in increasing vaccinations.
Ms Evans added: “What we’re finding is it’s not just young people using walk-in centres, but its people of all age groups.
“So when we think about being able to reach people who we haven’t been able to reach through the normal cohorts, the walk-in arrangements seem to suit them better, probably because of their workplace or perhaps they’ve been on furlough, whatever the reason it seems to be paying off for us.”