Confirmation of one more coronavirus case in Borders ends five-day run without new diagnoses

That rise ends a five-day run without any new cases of the disease being reported.

Those five days without further diagnoses came after another increase of one last Friday, June 5, ended a week-long run with no new cases.

That was the longest to have gone by without any new cases since the first diagnoses here were confirmed on Wednesday, March 11.

The 327 cases of Covid-19, as the disease is also known, confirmed here are among 15,665 nationwide, up 12 overnight.

Across the UK, 289,140 people have tested positive for the disease, up 1,387 on the day before.

It’s now over three months since Scotland’s first case, in Tayside, was announced on Sunday, March 1, after spreading across the world from Wuhan in China.

The death toll claimed in the region by coronavirus has not risen since last week, remaining at 38.

Figures issued by the National Records of Scotland today, taking into account all fatalities attributed to coronavirus and not just among those previously tested and found to be infected, put the death toll for the region at 68 as of Sunday, up six on last week, however. That’s 30 higher than the Scottish Government figure of 38 at that time.

It’s now over two months since the first five fatalities among Covid-19 patients here were announced on Monday, March 30.

That figure, going by Scottish Government calculations, rose to seven the day after, March 31; eight on Wednesday, April 1; 11 on Thursday, April 2; 14 on Friday, April 3; 16 on Sunday, April 5; 17 on Monday, April 6; 19 on Tuesday, April 7; 20 on Friday, April 10; 22 on Saturday, April 11; 23 on Sunday, April 12; 26 on Monday, April 13; 27 on Thursday, April 23; 28 on Friday, April 24; 29 on Monday, April 27; 30 on Wednesday, April 29; 31 on Thursday, April 30; 32 on Tuesday, May 12; 34 on Tuesday, May 19; 35 on Tuesday, May 26; and 38 on Tuesday, June 2.

They are among 2,434 coronavirus patients killed by the disease in Scotland so far, up 12 overnight, and 40,883 UK-wide, a rise of 286 on the day before.

Altogether, 15 Scots, none of them in the Borders, are in intensive care receiving treatment for coronavirus, along with another three suspected to be infected but awaiting test results.

No patients confirmed to have Covid-19 are being treated at any of the Borders’ hospitals, but 18 suspected to be sufferers and currently awaiting test results are being looked after.

More than 130,100 tests for the illness have been carried out in Scotland so far, with 114,439 coming back negative.

Giving an update to the Scottish Parliament today on the Covid-19 outbreak, first minister Nicola Sturgeon reported: “Since yesterday, an additional 12 cases have been confirmed through National Health Service laboratories, which takes the total number confirmed in that way to 15,665.

“A total of 987 patients either suspected or confirmed as having Covid-19 are currently in hospital, a decrease of 24 since yesterday.

“The number of confirmed cases within that has decreased by 18 since yesterday.

“As of last night, 18 people were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of three since yesterday.

“In the past 24 hours, 12 deaths of patients confirmed as having the virus have been registered. That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 2,434.

“National Records of Scotland has just published its more detailed weekly report. It covers the period to three days ago. At that point, according to our daily figures, 2,415 deaths of people who had tested positive for the virus had been registered. However, today’s report shows that the total number of registered deaths with either a confirmed or presumed link to the virus was 4,000.

“Of those deaths, 89 were registered in the seven days up to Sunday. That is a decrease of 42 from the week before.

“That is the sixth week in a row in which the number of deaths from the virus has fallen, and the number of deaths is the lowest number of Covid deaths in a single week since late March.

“The total number of excess deaths, which is the number above the five-year average for the same time of year, also decreased, from 111 last week and from 878 in the peak week for excess deaths to just 37 in the most recent week.

“Deaths in care homes made up 47% of all deaths linked to the virus last week. That figure is down from 53% in the previous week. The number of Covid-19 deaths in care homes also reduced again, from 69 to 42.

“All those figures, especially the total of 4,000, are far higher than any of us would wish, and I know that a downward trend in numbers does not console those who have lost loved ones to the virus. My thoughts and sympathies are with them all.

“However, the weekly number of Covid deaths has now fallen for six weeks in a row.

“Today’s figures are at less than a seventh of their peak level, excess deaths are at less than one 20th of their peak level and deaths in care homes are now also falling.

“That progress is significant, but we must take great care now to ensure that it is sustained. If it is, I hope that next week we will be able to announce some further, albeit careful, changes to lockdown measures.”