EAST Lothian’s coronavirus figures continue on their steady decline and sit slightly over 100 per 100,000 people, their lowest in over a month.

The latest figures from Public Health Scotland today (Thursday) show that between January 5 and 11, 117 positive cases of coronavirus were recorded in East Lothian and the seven-day positive rate per 100,00 of the population was 109.3.

The last time figures in the county were anywhere near that level was the first week of December (December 1-7), when 108 positive cases of coronavirus were recorded and the seven-day rate per 100,000 people was sitting at 100.8.

These are once again lower than the figures announced yesterday (Wednesday), when 130 cases were recorded and the seven-day rate per 100,000 people was sitting at 121.4.

These latest figures are considerably lower than those from a week ago (December 29-January 4), when the number of cases was sitting at 161 and the seven-day positive rate at 150.3, showing how much they have declined in a short space of time.

This keeps East Lothian’s figures as the lowest in the Lothian healthboard area and fifth lowest in Scotland.

READ MORE: January 13 coronavirus figures update

By comparison, Edinburgh’s seven-day positive rate per 100,000 of the population is sitting at 194.9 – the first time it has been below 200 so far this year – Midlothian’s at 152.5 and West Lothian’s at 157.3.

In East Lothian, an increasing number of places have seen their figures decline, putting them at the lower end of the scale.

Gullane and Drem, North Berwick North, Dunbar East and Dunbar West continued to record fewer than two cases each. They were joined at the lowest end of the scale again by Haddington North, with Longniddry and Aberlady, and Musselburgh East making their debut on this list.

At the top of the list and remaining areas of concern with seven-day positive rates per 100,000 of the population between 200 and 399 are Musselburgh East (seven cases), Musselburgh North (10 cases) and Haddington Rural (18 cases).

Nine parts of the county recorded a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 of the population between 100 and 199: Wallyford/Whitecraig (10 cases), Pinkie Braes (three cases), Tranent North (11 cases), Tranent South (seven cases), Prestonpans West (seven cases), Prestonpans East (six cases), Cockenzie (nine cases), Ormiston (three cases) and North Berwick South (six cases).

East Lothian Courier: East Lothian's coronavirus figures continue on their downward trend. The latest areas of concern are shown on this map, the darker the colour the higher the area of concern

The other three places (Musselburgh South, Haddington North, and East Linton and Rural) had a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 of the population between 50 and 99.

Across Scotland today, 1,707 new cases were recorded, which represents 8.3 per cent of all tests carried out yesterday.

A total of 64 deaths were recorded among those who had previously tested positive.

The number of people in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19 increased by 35 over the past 24 hours to 1,829.

The number of people in intensive care increased by eight to 142.

Also now included in Scotland’s daily data is the number of people who have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

READ MORE: Over-80s start receiving coronavirus vaccine in East Lothian

A total of 208,207 have now received their first dose, an increase of 16,242 from yesterday. A total of 3,190 have received their second dose, an increase of 200 from yesterday.

Yesterday (Wednesday), National Records of Scotland published its weekly update, which includes deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. The daily death figures reported by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon every day are only among those who have previously tested positive within the past 28 days.

Up until Sunday, 7,074 deaths had been registered in Scotland where Covid-19 had been mentioned on the death certificate.

Of those deaths, 384 were recorded last week (January 4-10), an increase of 197 compared to the week before. However, figures over the past couple of weeks have been affected by the festive period and office closures.

This figure is the highest it has been since May last year.

Of those 384 deaths, 50 were in the Lothian healthboard area, two in East Lothian and 34 in Edinburgh; Edinburgh’s figure is the third highest in Scotland.