Single new coronavirus case confirmed overnight in Borders is lowest rise for almost a month

That latest increase, taking the total for the region to 240, was revealed in a daily update issued by Scottish Government first minister Nicola Sturgeon today, April 21.

The last rise so low, from 11 to 12, was announced on Monday, March 23.

Some 8,672 cases of the illness have now been confirmed nationwide, up 222 from 8,450 yesterday.

Across the UK, 124,743 people have tested positive for the illness, up 4,676 on the day before.

It’s now over a week since there was any increase in fatalities claimed by coronavirus in the Borders, the death toll taken here by the virus, also known as Covid-19, remaining at 26 for the eighth day running.

That is the longest the number of deaths attributable to the disease has remained static since its first five fatalities in the Borders 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; and 26 last Monday.

They’re among a death toll of 985 nationwide, up 70 from 915 yesterday, and 16,509 across the UK, up 449 on the day before.

Some 41,699 tests for coronavirus have been carried out in Scotland so far, with 33,027 returning negative results.

It’s well over a month now since the first two cases of the illness were confirmed in the Borders on Wednesday, March 11, and nearing 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 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 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 last Tuesday; 215 on Wednesday; 220 on Thursday; 229 on Friday; 231 on Saturday; 237 on Monday; 239 yesterday; and 240 today.

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 231, but is still well below the two others, Lanarkshire and Lothian being up to 1,076 and 1,426 respectively.

Altogether, 166 Scots, nine of them in the Borders, are in intensive care receiving treatment for coronavirus, as of last night, with 159 having tested positive and the others awaiting results.

Giving a briefing in Edinburgh today, Ms Sturgeon said: “A total of 1,866 patients are currently in hospital with either confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That is an increase of 57 from yesterday.

“A total of 166 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That is a decrease of three.

“Now while I would still urge caution in interpreting these figures, I do remain cautiously optimistic that firstly, while the numbers being admitted to hospital are still fluctuating on a daily basis, they do appear to be broadly stable, and secondly that the numbers being admitted to intensive care are, at this stage reducing.

“We shouldn’t forget how important that is. It’s not too long ago that we were seriously worried about the potential for our hospital capacity to be overwhelmed by now.

“The fact that it is not is down to the planning that’s been done in the National Health Service, of course, but more than that it is down to high compliance with the lockdown restrictions, so my thanks to all of you for helping us to ensure the NHS has been able to cope, although the work that they do is very difficult and very challenging.

“It is, of course, in the nature of the virus that there will be a lag between numbers being admitted to hospital and intensive care reducing and the numbers sadly dying from this virus reducing, but I hope we will see the latter number also start to reduce in the next couple of weeks.

“However, in the last 24 hours, I am afraid that 70 deaths have been registered of patients confirmed as having Covid-19. That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 985.”

Ms Sturgeon also warned that hard times for the Scottish economy will follow in the wake of the virus, saying: “Dealing with this public health emergency has in itself created an economic emergency.

“Scotland’s economic output could fall by a third during the current period of social distancing.

“It is likely that there has been a significant increase in unemployment. For example, since March 15 we know there have been 130,000 new claimants for universal credit in Scotland. To give some context to that, in the comparable period last year, that number was 15,500.

“The Scottish Government’s immediate focus, working with the UK Government, has been on trying to mitigate the impact of the economic shock on people’s wellbeing and on protecting the economy’s productive capacity for the future.

“Our overall package of support for businesses in Scotland now totals more than £2.3bn. That includes business rates relief for many sectors and grants for small businesses.

“It’s worth adding that the health of the economy is, of course, one of the things we must consider as we think about how to emerge from this period of lockdown.

“The plans we will publish this week will set out some of the factors we will have to weigh up as we work towards a point when we can allow some businesses to reopen, albeit with appropriate social distancing measures in place.

“But the economic harm being caused by this virus is not in itself a reason to come out of lockdown early.

“Indeed, dealing with this public health emergency and continuing to suppress the virus is an absolute prerequisite for a sustainable economic recovery.

“If we were to move out of lockdown too early and then have to impose the same level of restrictions again, due to a further rapid rise in cases, that would in itself cause further, and possibly much longer-lasting, economic damage.”