No increase in Covid-19 cases in Borders for third day running for first time since mid-March

That static statistic comes after rises of only one on Wednesday and Thursday following another two days going by without any new diagnoses of the disease being announced for the first time since mid-March.

Today, May 10, also marks the first time three days have passed by without any new cases since March 16 to 18.

The 286 cases confirmed here are among 13,486 nationwide, up from 13,305 yesterday.

Across the UK, 219,183 people have tested positive for coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, up 3,923 on the day before.

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

That figure rose 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 on Monday, April 6; 149 on Tuesday, April 7; 160 on Wednesday, April 8; 167 on Thursday, April 9; 177 on Friday, April 10; 189 on Saturday, April 11; 199 on Sunday, April 12; 204 on Monday, April 13; 208 on Tuesday, April 14; 215 on Wednesday, April 15; 220 on Thursday, April 16; 229 on Friday, April 17; 231 on Saturday, April 18; 237 on Sunday, April 19; 239 on Monday, April 20; 240 on Tuesday, April 21; 243 on Wednesday, April 22; 248 on Thursday, April 23; 253 on Friday, April 24; 258 on Saturday, April 25; 259 on Sunday, April 26; 269 on Monday, April 27; 272 on Tuesday, April 28; 279 on Wednesday, April 29; 281 last Friday; 283 on Saturday; 284 on Sunday; 285 on Wednesday; and 286 on Thursday.

There’d been no increase in the number of deaths claimed by the disease in the region for eight days as of Friday, that being the latest update available, and it was still standing at 31.

It’s now been over a month since the first five fatalities among Covid-19 patients were announced on Monday, March 30.

That figure 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; and 31 last Thursday, April 30.

They are among 1,857 coronavirus patients killed by the disease in Scotland so far, up 10 from 1,847 overnight, and 31,855 UK-wide, a rise of 269 on the day before.

The number of cases of Covid-19 in the Borders remains higher than in one of its neighbouring health board areas, Dumfries and Galloway’s total being 255, but is still well below the two others, Lanarkshire and Lothian being up to 1,660 and 2,359 respectively.

Altogether, 82 Scots are in intensive care receiving treatment for coronavirus, with 75 having tested positive and the others awaiting results.

Some 72,683 tests for the illness have been carried out in Scotland so far, with 59,197 turning out negative.

Giving an update today on the outbreak, Scottish Government first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “A total of 1,484 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That is a decrease of 101 from yesterday.

“A total of 82 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus. That is a decrease of seven since yesterday.

“I am also able to confirm today that since March 5, a total of 3,100 patients who had tested positive and been hospitalised for the virus have been able to leave hospital. I wish all of them well.

“Unfortunately, I also have to report that in the last 24 hours, 10 deaths have been registered of patients confirmed through a test as having the virus. That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 1,857.

“As always, I want to stress that these numbers are not simply statistics. They represent individuals whose loss is being felt and mourned by many. As always, I send my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this virus. We are all thinking of you at this time.”

Ms Sturgeon also announced that lockdown rules are to be be relaxed slightly from tomorrow.

“Let me emphasise at the outset that the lockdown in Scotland remains in place,” she said.

“The rate of transmission of the virus in Scotland is still too high for any significant change to be safe at this stage.

“That means we must be very cautious and very careful about where we proceed to from here, having made real progress in recent weeks, and I think you can tell from the figures that I am setting out day after day that we have made real progress.

“The objective now for all of us must be to consolidate and solidify that progress.

“We must not squander our progress by easing up too soon or by sending mixed messages that result in people thinking it’s okay to ease up now.

“Let me be very blunt about the consequences if we were do that – people will die unnecessarily and, instead of being able to loosen restrictions hopefully in the near future, we will be faced instead with having to tighten them. We must not take that risk.

“My basic message for Scotland remains the same as it has been – please stay at home, except for essential purposes.

“I have made clear, however, that the Scottish Government will keep what constitutes an essential purpose under review, and I told you last week that we were considering making one immediate change – a change to the guidance relating to exercise.

“I can confirm that the Scottish cabinet met earlier this afternoon and agreed a change to that guidance.

“At present, you are only permitted to leave home to exercise once a day. From tomorrow, that once-a-day limit will be removed, so if you want to go for a walk more often, or to go for a run and also a walk later on in the day, then you can do so.

“It is important to stress that this new advice does not apply if you or someone in your household has symptoms of the virus, or if you received a letter explaining that you are in the shielded group.

“In those cases, the advice is still to stay at home completely and not go out at all.

“And for everybody, all other lockdown restrictions remain in place.

“When you are exercising, you must stay relatively close to your own home and at all times at least two metres away from people from other households.

“And although the rules permit exercise – such as walking, running or cycling – they do not yet extend to outdoor leisure activities such as sunbathing, picnics or barbecues.

“The fact that you are allowed to exercise more than once is definitely not – and I want to stress this point – a licence to start meeting up in groups at the park or the beach.

“Doing that really does risk spreading the virus and could potentially force us to reintroduce stricter guidelines or toughen up the regulations and penalties in future.

“What we are confirming today is instead a small but important change to one part of the lockdown requirements.

“We believe that it will bring benefits to health and wellbeing – particularly for people who live in flats and don’t have access to private gardens, and for children, who I know will have found the once a day limit particularly difficult.

“The most important point is this – it will bring those benefits without, in our judgement, having a major impact on the spread of the virus.

“However – and this is really important – the other basic principles and rules of lockdown remain for now the same.

“Unless you are doing exercise, or performing another essential task such as buying food or medicine, you should stay at home, and you should not meet up with people from other households because that is how we give the virus a chance to spread, giving it bridges it can travel over and lead to increased spread.

“The change I have confirmed today is the only change the Scottish Government judges that it is safe to make right now without risking a rapid resurgence of the virus.

“We do not, at this point, want to see more businesses opening up or more people going to work. Our guidance to business remains the same as it has been.

“For the avoidance of doubt, let me be clear, except for the one change I have confirmed today, the rules here have not changed.

“We remain in lockdown for now and my ask of you remains to stay at home. However, we will continue to monitor the evidence closely and make further changes as soon as we consider it safe to do so.”