Covid: East Renfrewshire infection rates rise above Glasgow
- Published
Councillor Tony Buchanan: “Cases are rising and we are more than aware of that - they are concerning."
Covid infection rates in East Renfrewshire are now higher than Glasgow, figures show.
The weekly case rate on 17 May reached 118.3, with Glasgow on 112.1, according to Public Health Scotland.
The rate is a key indicator of which restriction level an area should be in, with 50 cases per 100,000 set as the threshold for level three.
Glasgow is currently in level three, but East Renfrewshire went down to level two on Monday.
In Moray - the other level three area - the rate is continuing to fall and on 17 May was 36.5 cases per 100,000 people.
The Scottish government is expected to review the levels assigned to each local authority on Friday.
The weekly case rate is one factor that will be considered, but others include the ability of the local NHS to cope.
Tony Buchanan, leader of East Renfrewshire Council, told the BBC: "Cases are rising and we are more than aware of that - they are concerning, I don't think there is any doubt looking at these numbers.
"Within that, though, we are looking at a lot of household transmission, as opposed to wider community transmission."
Everywhere in Scotland apart from Moray and Glasgow dropped down to lower levels of restrictions on Monday, with the rest of the mainland and Skye at level two, and some islands now at level one.
The level two restrictions allow pubs and restaurants to serve alcohol inside until 22:30, and limited numbers of people can socialise indoors.
Social distancing during meetings indoors or in private gardens is also no longer required in levels one and two.
Mr Buchanan said he had a "lot of sympathy" for businesses in East Renfrewshire who were now facing the possibility of the local authority being moved back to up level three.
"Obviously they have operated this week. All measures are in place to try and avoid transmission and we are not aware of any transmission occurring in any of our local businesses.
"It is a concern - we fully understand the position that they are in, but equally we have our public health message and we need to be concerned and ultimately save lives hopefully."
Covid cases across Scotland have been rising over the last few weeks, with fears the surge in Glasgow is being driven by the Indian variant.
The strain is thought to spread more easily and has been found in pockets across the UK.
Scotland's interim deputy chief medical officer, Dave Caesar, said "small numbers" of the Indian variant had also been found outside Glasgow in other areas of the central belt.
Dr Caesar told BBC Scotland's The Nine that health officials were keeping a "very close eye" on the cases.
He also said that the Scottish government was "watchful without being alarmed" about the recent increase in infections in Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.
"It's not surprising that with a relaxation in the measures...that with increasing travel locally, with increasing mixing, with increasing reasons for us to go out and about, that we might see more transmission between people," he said.
"We're really keen to try to make sure we do all we can as soon as we see any signals that might suggest that transmission is creeping up."
