No increase in coronavirus fatalities in Borders as number of cases here rises to 160

Another double-figure rise in confirmed cases of the disease in the region has been announced, however.

A daily update issued by the Scottish Government on the spread of coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, through the country reveals an increase of 11 cases today, April 8, taking the total for the region to 160.

The death toll claimed by the illness in the region remains at 19, a rise of one previously reported by NHS Borders having been found to be incorrect.

The first five fatalities claimed here by Covid-19 were announced on Monday, March 30, and that figure rose to seven the day after, eight the next day, 11 last Thursday, 14 on Friday, 16 on Sunday, 17 on Monday and 19 yesterday.

They’re among a death toll of 366 nationwide, up from 296 yesterday, and 7,097 across the UK, up 938 on the day before.

Some 4,565 cases of the illness have been confirmed nationwide, up from 4,229 yesterday.

UK-wide, 60,733 people, including British prime minister Boris Johnson, have tested positive for the illness, up 5,492 on the day before.

Mr Johnson is currently being treated in an intensive care unit at a hospital in London after being admitted on Sunday. The 55-year-old is said to be in a stable condition.

Some 26,226 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in Scotland, with 21,661 proving negative.

It’s four weeks now since the first two cases of the illness were confirmed in the Borders on Wednesday, March 11, and over a month 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 last Wednesday; 23 last Thursday; 28 last Friday; 35 on Saturday; 50 on Sunday; 63 on Monday; 77 on Tuesday; 87 on Wednesday; 93 yesterday; 100 on Friday; 110 on Saturday; 130 on Sunday; 139 on Monday; 149 yesterday; and 160 today.

Though rising rapidly, the number of cases of Covid-19 in the Borders is still lower than those reported in the neighbouring health board areas of Dumfries and Galloway, Lanarkshire and Lothian, up to 155, 575 and 700 respectively.

The 4,500-plus Scots confirmed to have coronavirus are likely to be only a small fraction of the actual number infected, though, according to former Scottish chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood.

Dr Calderwood, replaced on an interim basis by Gregor Smith following her resignation on Sunday after being caught flouting lockdown rules, estimates that only around one in 64 cases of Covid-19 has been detected this side of the border.

That guess, if correct, would put the likely figure for the region at more than 10, 200 out of a population of 115,000 or so.

Altogether, 210 Scots, nine of them in the Borders, are in intensive care receiving treatment for coronavirus, as of last night, with 193 of those having tested positive and the others awaiting test results.

And that figure will get worse before it gets better, Scottish Government first minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned.

She told a briefing in Edinburgh today that the number of seriously ill coronavirus patients being admitted to intensive care will continue to rise for at least the next two to three weeks.