Rise of six coronavirus cases in Borders overnight is biggest for almost two weeks

That increase – the biggest since one of seven reported on Wednesday, April 29 – comes after yesterday, May 10, marked the first time three days had passed by without any new cases since March 16 to 18.

The 292 cases confirmed here are among 13,627 nationwide, up from 13,486 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 two months today, May 11, 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 on Friday, May 1; 283 on Saturday, May 2; 284 on Sunday, May 3; 285 on Wednesday, May 6; 286 on Thursday, May 7; and 292 today.

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 figure available, and it was still standing at 31.

An update from NHS Borders is due tomorrow, May 12.

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 1,862 coronavirus patients killed by the disease in Scotland so far, up five from 1,857 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 1,693 and 2,380 respectively.

Altogether, 80 Scots are in intensive care receiving treatment for coronavirus, with 72 having tested positive and the others awaiting results.

Hospitals in the Borders are currently treating 28 patients confirmed to be coronavirus sufferers.

Some 74,063 tests for the illness have been carried out in Scotland so far, with 60,436 turning out negative.

Giving an update in Edinburgh today on the outbreak, Scottish Government first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “A total of 1,453 patients are in hospital with Covid-19. That is a decrease of 31 from yesterday.

“A total of 80 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That is a decrease of two since yesterday.

“I am also able to confirm today that since March 5, a total of 3,114 patients who had tested positive 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, five deaths have been registered of patients confirmed through a test as having Covid-19. That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 1,862.

“As always, I want to stress that these numbers are not simply statistics. They represent individuals whose loss is being felt deeply by their loved ones. I want to send my deepest condolences to everyone who is grieving as a result of this virus.”

Ms Sturgeon also repeated her message that the coronavirus lockdown exit strategy being lined up south of the border by UK prime minister Boris Johnson differs from that already under way here.

She said: “Last night, the prime minister set out some of the details of his plan for easing restrictions in England.

“More of the detail of that has emerged this morning and will continue to come out during the day.

“I want to reiterate that those announcements do not apply here.

“That is not, I want to stress, for any political reason.

“It is because the Scottish Government is not yet confident that these changes can be made in Scotland without us running the risk of the virus potentially running out of control.

“Scotland’s lockdown restrictions remain in place for now, and our key message remains the same – we need you to stay at home.

“We do not, at this point, want to see more businesses opening up or more people going to work.

“We do not yet want to see more people using public transport.

“And we are not yet changing who can or should be at school.

“The only change we’ve made here in Scotland is to the guidance on exercise.

“As of today, we have removed the once-a-day limit on exercise. It means that if you want to go for a walk more often or to go for a run and also a walk, then you can now do so.

“That change obviously doesn’t apply if you or someone in your household has symptoms of Covid-19, or if you received a letter explaining that you are in the shielded group. In those cases, you should still stay at home completely.

“For everybody else, you will still need to stay relatively close to your own home, and at all times, you need to stay at least two metres away from people from other households.

“I also want to stress that by exercise we mean activities like walking or running or cycling, not sunbathing or having a picnic. This does not give people a licence to meet up at the park or at the beach.

“It’s just one very minor change to the existing rules.

“All of the restrictions in Scotland for now remain in place.

“We are making progress, but to combat this virus, we still need to stay apart from each other. We still need to stay at home, and the more we do that now the sooner we will be able to ease more of these restrictions.

“We all want to see our friends and families. We all miss them more with each day that passes. We all want to see children go back to school, and we all desperately want to get back to some kind of normality.

“Please know that I want all of that too – I want that as your first minister but I also want it as an ordinary person who is missing my own family very much – but I know we will get there more quickly if we all keep doing the right thing now.

“If we take our foot off the brake too soon, the real danger is we will end up in this lockdown for longer and, worse of all, we will lose many more people along the way.

“None of us wants that, so please be patient and please try not to get distracted by messages from other parts of the UK.

“All governments across the UK are trying to do the right thing, and all of us have a responsibility to take the steps we think are right at the right time.

“If you live in Scotland, abide by the law that applies here and follow Scottish Government guidance.

“Moving at different speeds in different parts of the UK for good, evidence-based reasons need not be a cause of confusion. Indeed, other countries are taking different steps in different areas at different times.

“Confusion only arises if we politicians and the media who report on us are either unclear in what we are asking people to do or if we give a misleading impression that decisions that apply to one nation only are actually UK-wide.

“Never has the duty on political leaders to communicate clearly been greater.

“If we see continued high compliance with the restrictions in Scotland for a bit longer, we will continue to slow the spread of the virus, we will protect the NHS, we will save lives and we will all move on quickly to the day when these restrictions start to be eased.”