Coronavirus: 'Significant milestone' in Scottish hospital admissions
- Published
Ms Sturgeon said there were three days last week with no admissions of new Covid patients to Scotland's hospitals
Nicola Sturgeon has hailed a "really significant milestone" after Scotland recorded three days with no coronavirus cases admitted to hospitals last week.
The first minister said the virus was being driven to "really low levels".
For the seventh day in a row no deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have been registered.
However, wider figures showed the virus had been mentioned on 13 death certificates in the week to Sunday, external as a suspected or underlying cause of death.
Ms Sturgeon said people should be "hyper vigilant" and "stick rigidly to the rules" to avoid any new outbreaks, admitting she was nervous about the latest easing of virus restrictions.
Wednesday marks Scotland's largest step out of lockdown so far, with bars, restaurants and hairdressers reopening.
The first minister said she was "even more nervous about today's changes than I have been about earlier changes to lockdown", due to the increased risk of transmission of the virus indoors, adding: "We must be so vigilant if we don't want to see this progress sent into reverse."
Nicola Sturgeon says she is 'nervous' over lockdown easing
Based on figures from Health Protection Scotland, Wednesday marked the seventh consecutive day in which no new deaths, from a confirmed test, had been registered
However, wider figures, external from the National Records of Scotland suggested Covid-19 had been associated with 13 deaths in the week to Sunday.
The total number of fatalities connected to the virus now stands at 4,187, with Ms Sturgeon saying these numbers "speak of tragedy for many people".
Hospital 'milestone'
There are currently 611 people in Scotland's hospitals with either confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus, six of whom are in intensive care.
Ms Sturgeon said there were three days last week - and six in total since 26 June - when there were no new admissions of confirmed Covid-19 patients. She called this a "really significant milestone".
The first minister told her briefing: "I don't want to go backwards to the days where each and every day people were being admitted to hospital - at the peak of this outbreak more than 200 people were being admitted to hospital each day.
"Let's not take the risk of going back to that. Let's make sure we all do everything we need to do as individual citizens to protect ourselves and each other, and keep us on track when it comes to tackling and hopefully eliminating this virus."
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