Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

"The huge take-up of the volunteering opportunities has been phenomenal over the Covid pandemic and it's absolutely something we want to harness and make sure we don't lose that."

So says Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell after contributing a poem of her own about her mother's involvement in her local community to a celebration of Volunteers' Week., external

"It is really inspiring," the MSP tells BBC Radio Scotland when asked about the response of the public to calls for volunteers during the pandemic. "People clearly want to contribute and take an interest in society."

Ms Campbell says the virus "is going to change our lives for a long time and we are going to continue to need those volunteers".

Volunteer Scotland chief executive George Thomson says a poll of 35,000 volunteers showed that 45% had already been doing some kind of volunteering, many just helping neighbours, and suggests the crisis had brought out the "community spirit" that was already there.

You can go to Ready Scotland, external to find many ways you can help your community.

Several recycling centres across Scotland have been able to reopen from today - and they are expected to get busy. Here are Zero Waste Scotland's tips on visiting one, external.

1. Consider whether your trip is absolutely necessary and double check the one you are planning on going to is open, external.
2. You may have to queue. Remain in your car while you wait.
3. When you leave your car on site, take care to keep a good physical distance between yourself and others.
4. Staff will not be available to help with lifting, so make sure you can safety lift items by yourself.

Long queues have built up at some recycling centres in Scotland on the morning that they reopened after lockdown.

This picture was taken outside the Shieldhall Recycling Centre in Glasgow.

There are restrictions in place on the number of cars allowed on site.

Only household rubbish in black bags will be accepted - no bulk or commercial waste at this stage.

Inverclyde Council warned that their Pottery Street site was also busy, with long queues after it reopened.

The council asked that anyone who could hang on to their rubbish did so for "a little while longer".

Image source, Thinkstock

Parents of children able to start primary school this year can claim a one-off payment of £250.

Applications for the school age payment of the Scottish government's Best Start Grant opened today. The deadline for applying is 28 February 2021.

Parents or carers can apply even if they have chosen to defer their child's entry to school for one year or if they are home schooling.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "Covering the costs of a child starting school can put pressure on family finances and during these unprecedented times, many more families may be struggling with household costs."

Eligible parents should visit mygov.scot or call 0800 182 2222 to apply.

Here's some of the latest advice in Scotland, including on the route map out of the crisis and the Test and Protect programme:

1. Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis, external

The Scottish government has identified four phases for easing the restrictions. We are currently in phase one.

2. Test and Protect, external

If you have Covid-19 symptoms go to NHS Inform online or phone 0800 028 2816 to book a test

3. NHS Inform, external

The latest from NHS Scotland and the Scottish government, including social distancing and stay at home advice.

4. Clear Your Head, external

It's ok to not feel yourself right now, so click here for tips to help your mental health during the crisis.

5. Ready Scotland, external

Staying at home does not mean you are alone - there are many ways you can help your community.

Image source, Getty Images

Special Constables (SPCs) donated over 25,000 hours supporting Police Scotland in the two months after lockdown began.

The special constabulary is a part-time volunteer body consisting of officers with powers identical to those of police officers.

Following an appeal by Police Scotland in March, the number of hours SPCs were deployed for more than doubled, to 25,656, compared to the same period last year.

Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins said: “While SPCs have always been considered a vital and valued feature of policing in Scotland, it is more important than ever that their role is recognised and I would like to sincerely thank them all once again for their efforts."

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Mornings With Kaye will shortly interview Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell among others to mark Volunteers’ Week,, external which takes place every year from the 1 – 7 June.

Thousands of healthy Scots have signed up to become volunteers to support vulnerable people in their area during the coronavirus pandemic.

People have been asked to go to the Ready Scotland website, external if they wish to provide practical or emotional help.

The drive is the focus of the Scottish government's Scotland Cares campaign.

The first minister said the help provided by volunteers would be "invaluable".

Image source, Getty Images

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, SNS

Scientists advising the Scottish government will have taken non-compliance into consideration when calculating the risks of easing the lockdown, NHS Grampian's Jillian Evans tells BBC Scotland.

"There are very careful estimates of compliance and actually Scotland has done so super well. We have come so far - please don't throw it all away now," the head of health intelligence pleads with the public amid reports of many people abusing the rules.

Ms Evans admits that the fact that the four UK nations are moving at different speeds with different rules is "totally confusing".

"Most of us read national newspapers and of course most of the coverage will be focusing on England and it's just so easy to get confused," he says. "I get confused and I study this stuff."

However, Ms Evans thinks most people in Scotland want to be cautious, with 50-60% of the population still fearful of going out and lockdown measures easing. "If you don't want to get a call from somebody telling you you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive then your best bet is to stay apart," she adds.

Image source, Cancer Research UK

Up to to 3,000 Covid-19 tests a day are needed in Scotland to get cancer services back on track, according to a charity.

Cancer Research UK, external experts also calculated there has been a drop of around 16,000 urgent GP referrals for suspected cancer in Scotland since lockdown began ten weeks ago.

In order for services to become fully operational again, it is calling for the protection of diagnosis and treatment areas from the virus to be made an urgent priority.

Around 32,000 people a year are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland.

Marion O’Neill, the charity's head of external affairs in Scotland, said: “We need to see Covid-19 testing efforts ramp up for staff and cancer patients so everyone has confidence that diagnosis and treatment areas are safe."

Image source, Logan Air

Aberdeen Airport will receive a boost as Loganair resumes two domestic routes later.

The airline is relaunching flights to Birmingham and Newcastle, as it starts to move towards restoring full services after the Covid-19 crisis grounded most of its services.

The first flights to the English airports will take off from Aberdeen on Monday afternoon.

Birmingham services will fly four times a week at first, with six to Newcastle.

Read more here.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, SNS

NHS Grampian health expert Jillian Evans fears a rise in Covid-19 outbreaks after having personal experience of how some members of the public abused Scotland's easing of the lockdown at the weekend.

"I live on the coast, I opened my door on Saturday morning and was about to walk to the beach with my dog but turned back immediately because the beach was full of people enjoying themselves and definitely too close together for comfort," the head of health intelligence tells BBC Scotland.

"My instinct was to get myself away from there, but there's a bit inside you that wants to shout out 'will you just get a grip'. Somebody said to me the other day, it feels a bit like the end of term - and that's exactly how it feels.

"Obviously it should bother us because what we'll see is individual cases starting again if people don't practice social distancing and then those small cases become clusters and clusters become outbreaks and then you are back to uncontrollable peaks."

Image source, Getty Images

Early in the Covid-19 outbreak, the Shetland Islands were one of the worst-hit areas of the UK by head of population. Now, no new cases have been detected there for six weeks. Some experts say it offers the rest of the country a route map out of lockdown - but for the first family on the islands to test positive, it hasn't been easy.

Read more here.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Prof McQueen said she was "delighted" to see the resumption of some screening services and elective surgery within NHS Scotland.

But she warned that it would not be at the scale seen before the pandemic as physical distancing measures needed to be maintained for staff and patients in hospital.

"If people can think back to pre-Covid, of sitting in an out patients clinic when you would have routinely and regularly been sitting with a lot of other people," she said.

"We're going to have to have physical distancing... that will reduce how many people we can see and how frequently we can see people."

Prof McQueen told Good Morning Scotland that hospitals would also need to keep capacity available for Covid patients and said NHS Scotland would become a health service of "two halves".

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Prof Fiona McQueen said for some people the symptoms of Covid-19 can be like a "common cold or flu".

But the chief nursing officer reminded BBC Good Morning Scotland that for others the virus can be deadly.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland's Chief Nursing Officer says anecdotal evidence suggests not everyone is respecting the new lockdown rules.

Prof Fiona McQueen told BBC Good Morning Scotland she received an email from a relative who said her neighbour hosted a weekend barbecue with nine people from different households.

She said there was "no social distancing", children were sitting on grandparent's knees and guests used the toilet.