No increase in coronavirus deaths in Borders for fourth day in a row, but number of cases here edges up to 229

That increase was revealed in a daily update issued by the Scottish Government today, April 17, also reporting a further 58 deaths nationwide attributable to the disease.

There’s been no increase in the death toll claimed here by Covid-19, as the disease is also known, for the fourth day running, though, and it remains at 26.

The first five fatalities in the Borders attributable to the virus were announced on Monday, March 30, and that figure rose to seven the day after, eight the next day, 11 a week ago last Thursday, 14 a week ago on Friday, 16 last Sunday, 17 on Monday, 19 on Tuesday, 20 on Friday, 22 on Saturday, 23 on Sunday and 26 on Monday.

They’re among a death toll of 837 nationwide, up 58 from 779 yesterday, and 14,576 across the UK, up 847 on the day before.

Altogether, 7,409 cases of the illness have been confirmed nationwide, up 307 from 7,102 yesterday.

Across the UK, 108,692 people, including British prime minister Boris Johnson, have tested positive for the illness, up 5,599 on the day before.

Some 36,637 tests for coronavirus have been carried out in Scotland so far, with 29,228 returning negative results.

It’s over a month now since the first two cases of the illness were confirmed in the Borders on Wednesday, March 11, and a month and a half since Scotland’s first case, in Tayside, was announced on Sunday, March 1, after spreading across the world from Wuhan in China.

That figure went up to three on Friday, March 13; five on Saturday, March 14; seven on Sunday, March 15; eight the following Thursday, March 19; nine on Friday, March 20; 10 on Saturday, March 21; 11 on Sunday, March 22; 12 on Monday, March 23; 15 on Wednesday, March 25; 23 on Thursday, March 26; 28 on Friday, March 27; 35 on Saturday, March 28; 50 on Sunday, March 29; 63 on Monday, March 30; 77 on Tuesday, March 31; 87 on Wednesday, April 1; 93 on Thursday, April 2; 100 on Friday, April 3; 110 on Saturday, April 4; 130 on Sunday, April 5; 139 last Monday, April 6; 149 last Tuesday; 160 on Wednesday; 167 on Thursday; 177 on Friday; 189 on Saturday; 199 on Sunday; 204 on Monday; 208 on Tuesday; 215 on Wednesday; 220 yesterday; and 229 today.

The number of cases of Covid-19 in the Borders is higher than in one of its neighbouring health board areas, Dumfries and Galloway’s total being 209, but is still well below the two others, Lanarkshire and Lothian being up to 934 and 1,172 respectively.

Altogether, 189 Scots, six of them in the Borders, are in intensive care receiving treatment for coronavirus, as of last night, with 184 having tested positive and the others awaiting results.

Reporting those figures at a daily briefing in Edinburgh today, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “In the last 24 hours, I am afraid that 58 deaths have been registered of patients confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19.

“That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 837.

“It’s important that that we never ever lose sight of the human reality behind these statistics.

“Each and every death represents an individual, somebody who is right now being mourned by the people they have left behind, and so – once again – I want to extend my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one and I know we all think about them at these times.”

Ms Sturgeon also offered further explanation of yesterday’s decision to extend the current lockdown into May, saying: “Lockdown restrictions have resulted in a slowing down of the rate of community transmission of the virus.

“That is positive news, and while we can’t be complacent and should never be complacent when dealing with this virus, that slowdown seems to be reflected in a stabilisation of the numbers being admitted to hospital and intensive care.

“And again I think we can see that in the figures I’ve reported to you today.

“In short, we believe that these restrictions are working, and I therefore again want to thank every single one of you for complying with these rules and for the sacrifices you are making in doing so.

“However, despite these positive signs, and they are positive signs, we are not yet confident that transmission has slowed sufficiently to allow us to ease up in any way on these restrictions.

“The advice to us is very clear that lifting the restrictions now could risk an immediate and a potentially exponential resurgence of the virus.

“That would very quickly, if it happened, result in our NHS being overwhelmed.

“It could lead also to many more outbreaks in our care homes, and it would almost certainly lead to much more loss of life.

“It could also necessitate the introduction of even stronger restrictions in future, with substantially more damage to the economy as a result, so if we were to lift these restrictions now or if we lift them at any time prematurely, all of the progress that we’ve achieved together in the past few weeks would be lost.

“We can’t take that risk, and I hope you agree that we simply can’t take that risk because the price of it in human life and human suffering is not one that any of us should or would be willing to pay.

“We have a long way to go, but we are beginning to see signs that the lockdown is working.

“The first signs of hope are already there, so it’s vital that we continue to follow these rules so that we don’t go backwards and instead keep moving forwards in the right direction.

“By all of us doing that, as we are already seeing, we slow down the spread of this virus, and we will undoubtedly protect our NHS. We see that in the stabilisation of numbers in hospital and intensive care.

“And while we are still sadly reporting many deaths every day, complying with these measures undoubtedly helping to save lives, and we bring ourselves, by complying with these measures, every day we do it, a little closer to the time when we can start to return to a resemblance of normality.”