Nicola Sturgeon news: Scotland sees pandemic ‘out of control’ in parts | UK | New UK News

This week Glasgow saw an increase in new infections that appeared to be linked to the spread of new variants. Parts of southern Glasgow have seen ‘clusters’ of new infections that have brought the city’s virus rate to 74 per 100,000 people. By comparison, there are 25.5 per 100,000 for Scotland as a whole.

Ms Sturgeon said the situation in Glasgow was being watched “very closely”.

She tweeted: “We are seeing an increase in cases in Glasgow right now and, amid concerns about the so-called Indian variant, we are watching it very closely.”

But Dr Deepti Gurdasani, clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University in London, said lifting restrictions across Scotland was premature.

Dr Gurdasani told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “The idea is certainly premature, in fact the government should consider the opposite.

“In Scotland as a whole, we’ve actually seen the number of new cases double in the last week, and although the cases are so low, it’s hard to see exponential increases.

‘This is what the first exponential increases look like and we are seeing a loss of control of the pandemic in many parts of Scotland, and the situation is likely much larger and other places will follow unless action is taken to prevent that and prevent this now. “

She added that the arrival of new variants was the result of a “failed border policy”.

National Clinical Director Jason Leitch said the growing number was concerning.

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However, he added that this is “relatively contained growth, not yet exponential, as we have seen with this virus before”.

Public health experts have warned that a spike in infections in Glasgow could be linked to the so-called B.1.617.2 variant.

This variant was first identified in India and has been described as a ‘variant of concern’ by Public Health England.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the Indian variant “clearly outperformed” the Kent variant in a number of parts of the UK.

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He said: “Indeed it is now in most parts of the UK, with the possible exception of Yorkshire and Humber in the North East, which appear to have very few cases until present. “

Mr Hunter added: “It seems to be a little more resistant to early indications, to what people say who do this kind of work.

“Not as tough as the South African variant, but a bit tougher than the Kent variant.

“And when you look at the number of cases that we’re seeing, it’s mostly on the rise in people who are of an age that hasn’t really had much access to vaccines until now.

“So this is not all bad news, because even people who get the infection seem to get a much milder infection if they have been vaccinated, and we have heard doctors talking about it in India, saying that the Indian Variant but much less severe.

“And there is indeed evidence in the UK that once you get the vaccine you could still get Covid, but it will usually be much less severe than it otherwise would have been.

Glasgow is not the only region in Scotland to see an increase in cases after Moray recorded several new cases.

Moray has an infection rate four times that of Scotland and the number of hospitalizations has been increasing since mid-April.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed that the next leg of the roadmap will take place on May 17, with mainland Scotland moving to level 2 and the islands to level 1.

The prime minister said it was “very likely” that Moray will remain at level 3 due to the growing number of cases.