Covid cases in Scotland fall by 30,000 in a week

Covid infections in Scotland dropped by more than 30,000 last week, according to official figures.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that 281,400 people tested positive for the virus in the week ending 16 April.

That was down from 314,800 the previous week and represented one in 19 people in the country (down from one in 17).

It is the fourth week in a row that Covid infections in Scotland have dropped.

The one in 19 estimates published in the latest ONS Coronavirus Infection Survey compare with a record high of one in 11 for the week ending 20 March.

Across the UK, 3.8 million people are estimated to have had the virus, down from 4.4 million the previous week.

One in 17 people tested positive in England, while the figure was one in 15 in Wales and one in 30 in Northern Ireland.

Separate ONS figures suggest 2.7 million people in Scotland are likely to have had coronavirus since the first six months of the pandemic.

The figure represents 51.5% of the population and covers the weeks between 22 September 2020 and 11 February this year.

The ONS data covers people in private households and does not include those in hospitals, care homes and other communal establishments.

This is the fourth week in a row that we've seen a drop in Covid infections in Scotland.

Last week it was one in 17 now, it's one in 19.

And the data suggests more people in Scotland have Covid-19 than in Northern Ireland, but the virus is more widespread in Wales and England.

Although vaccines have given us protection from getting seriously ill with Covid, high numbers can still put pressure on the health service.

But these latest ONS figures only go up to Easter Saturday.

Since then, rules around mask-wearing on public transport and most indoor spaces have been ditched and there's no more access to free lateral flow tests.

When this happened in England at the end of January, cases began to climb again - but Scottish cases also seemed to peak around the same time even though no rules had been changed.

It's likely we'll need to wait another week or two to see what difference the most recent rule changes mean for Covid cases.