Eight Covid-19 cases in Wick South in latest seven-day period
There were eight positive tests for Covid-19 in Wick South during the latest seven-day period recorded by Public Health Scotland – the second-highest number among all the neighbourhoods in the Highland Council area.
The figures were based on people tested from June 14-20.
The national agency's interactive dashboard has a map giving the number of positive cases in specific Scottish neighbourhoods, seven of which are in Caithness.
If a neighbourhood has fewer than three positive cases, the number is presented as 0-2 "to help protect patient confidentiality". The county's six other neighbourhoods – Caithness North East, Caithness North West, Caithness South, Thurso East, Thurso West and Wick North – all came into this category based on tests from June 14-20, meaning there could have been zero, one or two positive cases in each.
The same applied in Sutherland East, Sutherland South and Sutherland North and West.
There were nine cases in the Fort William South neighbourhood and five in Lochaber West.
Public Health Scotland reported 80 positive cases in the Highland local authority area during the seven-day period. The region's seven-day positive rate per 100,000 population was 33.9.
On Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that the whole of Scotland will move to level zero on July 19 if all necessary vaccination and harm reduction measures are met.
Current levels will remain in place for the next three weeks with a review taking place on July 13, although some changes – such as minor relaxations to rules on events such as weddings and funerals – will come into effect on June 28.
In a statement to parliament, Ms Sturgeon also confirmed that from July 19 physical distancing outdoors will be removed and physical distancing for indoor public areas will reduce to one metre if the data allows.
Limits on outdoor gatherings will also be removed on this date, given the reduced risk of outdoor transmission at this stage in the vaccination programme.
If the necessary conditions on vaccination and harm reduction continue to be met, all major remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted on August 9.
“From July 19, and then more substantially from August 9 – assuming we are meeting our revised strategic aim of alleviating the harm of the virus – life should feel much less restricted for all of us," Ms Sturgeon said.
“A very significant degree of normality will be restored – for individuals and for businesses. These are indicative dates, but they allow us to plan ahead with more clarity. As always, we all have a part to play in keeping us on track.
“Up until now, the Scottish Government’s strategic intention has been to ‘suppress the virus to the lowest possible level and keep it there’. From now, our aim will be to ‘suppress the virus to a level consistent with alleviating its harms while we recover and rebuild for a better future’.
“This change reflects the fact that vaccination is reducing – we hope significantly – the harm that the virus causes.
“Physical distancing has been an important mitigation against the virus but it is also burdensome for individuals and costly for businesses. So, as vaccinations bear more of the load of controlling the virus, we need to consider when and to what extent we can reduce the legal requirement for it.
“Ultimately we hope to remove the legal requirement for physical distancing – even though we may continue to advise people to think about safe distancing when interacting with people outside their close contact groups.”