Lockdown restrictions in Aberdeen are having an impact but the outbreak is not over yet, Nicola Sturgeon has warned.
The first minister is expected to give an update on Wednesday on whether measures imposed two weeks ago can be lifted but it appears unlikely the city will be returning to normality.
Aberdeen’s bars, cafes and restaurants were ordered to close on August 5, with residents being banned from having visitors to their homes and travel restrictions being reintroduced on leisure activities.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon said there had been a decline in new cases across Grampian but the number remains higher than the rest of Scotland.
The SNP leader said the decline in cases “suggests that the restrictions that were put in place two weeks ago are having an impact – as of course are the efforts of the health jw=0JFQxfXdprotection teams”.
But seven of the 49 new national cases announced on Tuesday were in the Grampian area and Ms Sturgeon said this would be considered as part of the decision as to whether any changes can be made to local restrictions.
“The situation does appear to be improving but it’s important to stress to say that the outbreak is not yet completely over”, she said.
The latest Covid-19 figures show 19,407 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up 49 from the day before.
That includes 16 new cases overnight in the Tayside area, seven in Grampian, 12 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and six in Lanarkshire – all regions recently affected by localised clusters of the virus.
Ms Sturgeon confirmed 220 cases in the NHS Grampian area have now been linked to the outbreak in Aberdeen pubs, up from 207 on Monday.
“Though I don’t want to alarm anybody, I do want people to take notice – in fact, I need people to take notice,” she said.
“These clusters show us that these virus continue to pose a serious risk.”
City bar Soul apologised on Tuesday for underestimating the challenge of maintaining social distancing at its busiest times, and said it would not be “rushing to open our doors” if measures are lifted on Wednesday.
It added: “Getting it right will be crucial to the recovery of Aberdeen’s local trade.”
Ms Sturgeon warned Scotland will “inevitably see more cases which involve school students” but stressed there was no evidence to suggest the virus is spreading inside classrooms.
The first minister confirmed new cases announced this week are thought to be “community clusters with an impact on schools rather than school-based clusters”.
“There does appear to be a link with indoor social events,” she said.
“The evidence we have at this stage seems to suggest, perhaps not surprisingly given how infectious we know Covid is, if the virus is present at, say, a house party, everyone attending the house party is at considerable risk of infection.
“We will, I think, inevitably see more cases which involve school students in the weeks and months ahead.”
The first minister pleaded with parents to help schools remain fully open by playing their part in suppressing the virus following reports on Monday of school pupils returning to class after visiting high-risk countries.
She said: “I suspect every parent right now will be feeling huge anxiety about their child being back at school – that’s understandable, but I suspect every parent also really knows how important it is for their children to be back at school and to be having education on a full-time basis.
“If we want to protect that, all of us have to do all of these other things that help us to keep the virus suppressed.
“There are no easy answers in any of this – I so wish that there were and I wish there were easy judgements and simple solutions to all of this.”
We will succeed or fail in all of this by the collective efforts of all of us.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
Ms Sturgeon added: “This is a hard slog for all of us – for every single person having to follow all of this advice and it’s unfortunately going to be a hard slog for quite some time yet to come.
“But increasingly, we have to focus on doing everything we can to keep the virus suppressed for its own sake but also so we can start to ease some of these other harms that lockdown and having children out of school are doing.
“We will succeed or fail in all of this by the collective efforts of all of us.”
The first minister also warned a “complex and potentially significant” coronavirus cluster linked to a Perthshire food processing plant is likely to lead to a surge of new cases in the coming days and weeks.
The 2 Sisters plant in Coupar Angus was closed on Sunday after nine new Covid-19 cases were identified, seven of which involved employees and a further two linked to people in the local community.
It is understood a manager at the factory may have caught the virus from a close relative who is not an employee of the plant.
Ms Sturgeon said she would be “very surprised, albeit pleasantly” if the number did not continue to rise in the coming days.
She confirmed contact tracing in connection with the cluster was ongoing but the entire workforce of around 900 will now be tested at a mobile unit at the site.
“This is a complex and potentially significant cluster,” Ms Sturgeon said.
“In addition to the overriding public health concern relating to the outbreak, the closure of the plant potentially, of course, has an economic impact, and we also need to consider possible animal welfare issues as well.”
The SNP leader said animals due to be sent to the plant in the next few days would now need to be kept away, and that the size of the workforce and the nature of the work being done at the plant added to the complexity of the outbreak.
There has been a number of other clusters at food processing plants in the UK and Europe, and they are known to be environments where the virus can spread widely.
“For all of these reasons, we are monitoring all aspects of this situation very carefully and closely, and we will provide further information in due course as and when it becomes available,” Ms Sturgeon said.
Asked whether a localised lockdown may be necessary to tackle the outbreak, the SNP leader said she was cautious about speculating on future measures but nothing could be ruled out at this stage.
“We don’t rule anything out whenever we’re faced with clusters – if we can’t keep a cluster under control purely through Test and Protect, then additional measures always have to be possible,” she added.