Covid cases in the north-east are continuing to fall, despite a slight increase in the number of people testing positive in the city.
In the seven days between February 21 and 27, 68 people in Aberdeen tested positive for Covid-19, up 14 on the previous seven day period.
However, across the whole of NHS Grampian’s area – which includes the city, Aberdeenshire and Moray, just 155 cases were identified last week, compared to 220 the week before.
It means the north-east council areas are among those with the lowest rates in the country.
Only Shetland, Orkney, the Scottish Borders, Argyll and Bute and the Western Isles have rates lower than the city and shire.
How is the positivity rate calculated?
Case numbers can be put into context by looking at them as a rate per 100,000 population.
This rate is then categorised into one of five bands by Public Health Scotland (PHS). If the number of cases in the seven-day period is two or less, it is marked as suppressed.
Each area of the country has been divided into regions of roughly similar populations, and are the same used in a wide range of national datasets released by the Scottish Government.
In the past day, there have been 33 new deaths registered, taking the country’s toll to 7,164.
A total of 203,012 people have now tested positive in Scotland, with 542 new cases reported in the past 24 hours.
What’s the picture like Scotland wide?
The Scotland-wide seven-day positive rate per 100,000 population is 79.6, with 4,350 people testing positive during this period – down around 1,500 on the previous week.
Of all the tests carried out, 3.9% returned a positive result.
The area of the country with the highest positivity rate is Falkirk, with a rate of 162.2 per 100,000
Aberdeen
Aberdeen has an average rate per 100,000 population of 29.7 up from 24.1 during the previous seven-day period.
Sixty-eight positive cases of Covid-19 were identified during this period, an increase of 26% (14) on the previous period.
Of all the tests carried out in the region, 1.5% were positive.
A map showing the breakdown of cases by neighbourhood reveals no neighbourhoods in Aberdeen are in the two highest categories.
However, Dyce, West End North and City Centre West all have a positive rate higher than 100 cases per 100,000 people.
Elsewhere in the city, only seven other areas have their cases displayed, meaning 80% of Aberdeen’s neighbourhoods only recorded between zero and two cases last week.
Public Health Scotland doesn’t display figures below this level to prevent the identification of individuals.
Aberdeenshire
In Aberdeenshire, there have been 49 cases in the last seven-day period, with a positive rate of 18.8 per 100,000 – below that of the Scottish average.
This equates to a drop of almost 50% week on week
The test positivity rate for the region, at 1.1% is also below that of the national average.
No areas are within the two highest bands assigned by Public Health Scotland, however, Fraserburgh Harbour and Broadsea and Mintlaw both have rates in excess of 100 cases per 100,000.
According to the latest figures five cases were detected in Fraserburgh Harbour and Broadsea and three identified in Mintlaw.
The vast majority of the region, however, has had its data suppressed. Fifty-three of Aberdeenshire’s 59 regions have between zero and two cases.
Fraserburgh and district councillor Brian Topping said the low figures for the town are encouraging but is urging people to stick to the rules for a little bit longer.
He said: “I’ve certainly been encouraged by the figures. They have been reducing throughout Aberdeenshire.
“There are a lot of people to thank for this like the NHS.
“I’ve been speaking to a lot of folk who are really looking forward to getting their jab now. I got mine on Valentine’s Day.
“But we can’t be complacent and we need to hang on a wee bit longer. I hope we are in the new normal in the next couple of months.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: “The decreasing number of cases detected across Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire is certainly to be welcomed. This is a clear product of the current restrictions; the real test will come when those restrictions start to be eased.
“The recent detection of three cases of a Covid-19 Variant of Concern in Grampian highlights the clear risk this virus continues to pose. We must all continue to follow restrictions and observe the FACTS guidance.”
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