R number in Scotland below 1 for first time since May

The rate at which Covid is spreading in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level since May.

The Scottish government estimates the reproduction number, a rating of the disease's ability to spread, as between 0.7 and 0.9 in the week to 2 August.

If the R value is higher than one, then the number of cases keeps increasing.

But if the R number is lower the disease will eventually stop spreading, because not enough new people are being infected to sustain the outbreak.

Hospital admissions have been declining slowly since mid-July and ICU numbers are also beginning to decline.

The latest Covid-19 modelling report estimates the number of new daily infections for Scotland as being between 58 and 114, per 100,000 people, based on the period up to 2 August.

Among the data the report looks at is wastewater monitoring.

It says Covid-19 RNA concentrations have fallen by about 20%, although the current levels of wastewater Covid are still in a similar range to late January/early February.

The report says wastewater Covid-19 levels continue to be higher than would be expected given the current rate of new cases.

The South Lanarkshire local authority overall wastewater Covid-19 level is significantly above the national average, in contrast to the low levels of new cases.

Latest daily figures

The latest daily Covid statistics show 1,250 cases confirmed on Friday, continuing the decline from more than 4,000 at the start of July.

There were seven new reported deaths of people who have tested positive.

The stats showed 54 people were in intensive care and 367 were in hospital.

More than four million people have received the first dose of the Covid vaccination, 89.9% of the adult population.

And 3,286,153 have received their second dose, 74% of adults.

From Friday, people who are 16 or 17 in mainland Scotland are being invited to register their interest through the online portal at NHS Inform, and will then be sent an appointment via SMS or email.

It is expected that everyone in this age group will have been offered a vaccination appointment by the end of September.

The latest population figures show there are an estimated 55,890 people aged 16 and 54,249 aged 17 in Scotland.