THE number of positive cases of coronavirus in East Lothian slightly increased over the weekend and the county no longer has the lowest figures in the Lothians.

On Friday, for the period between January 6 and 12, 115 positive cases were recorded in East Lothian and the seven-day positive rate per 100,000 people was sitting at 107.4.

On Saturday (January 7-13), this had decreased to 108 cases and a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 people of 100.8, the same figures as December 1-7.

On Sunday (January 8-14), the figures had slightly increased to 110 cases and a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 of the population of 102.7.

Today (January 9-15), the figures have increased once again and currently stand at 116 cases and a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 people of 108.3.

 

East Lothian Courier: This table shows the number of cases in East Lothian and how they have changed and fluctuated since summerThis table shows the number of cases in East Lothian and how they have changed and fluctuated since summer

But despite this increase, the figures remain their lowest in more than a month.

But it also means that East Lothian no longer has the lowest figures in the Lothian heathboard area and no longer has the fifth lowest cases in Scotland overall; it now stands sixth.

This is because it has been overtaken by Midlothian, which has a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 people of 103.8; Edinburgh’s seven-day positive rate is sitting at 140.4 and West Lothian’s at 145.8.

In East Lothian, the places that are and are not areas of concern have drastically changed over the weekend.

Only two parts of the county are now areas of concern with seven-day positive rates per 100,000 people between 200 and 399: Musselburgh North (14 cases) and Tranent North (23 cases).

Over the weekend, the number of places with a seven-day positive rate between 100 and 199 also decreased from seven to five. The list now consists of: Wallyford/Whitecraig (12 cases), Ormiston (three cases), Haddington Rural (11 cases), Gullane and Drem (seven cases) and North Berwick South (eight cases).

East Lothian Courier: This image shows the latest case numbers and places that are areas of concern in East Lothian, the darker the colour the higher the area of concernThis image shows the latest case numbers and places that are areas of concern in East Lothian, the darker the colour the higher the area of concern

And now the number of places at the lowest end of the scale is at its highest for several weeks.

North Berwick North and Dunbar South remain on this list but are now joined by Haddington South, Prestonpans East, Tranent South, Pinkie Braes, Musselburgh South and Musselburgh West. All of these places have recorded fewer than two cases each in the seven days up to January 15.

Parts of Musselburgh and Prestonpans were previous areas of concern with high case numbers but now find themselves recording fewer than two cases each, a drastic difference compared to the end of last year.

The remaining parts of the county – Musselburgh East, Prestonpans West, Cockenzie, Longniddry and Aberlady, East Linton and Rural, and Dunbar East – recorded a seven-day positive rate per 100,000 people between 50 and 99.

SEE MORE: Coronavirus in East Lothian - here are the latest figures

Across Scotland today, 1,429 new cases were recorded, which represents 12.3 per cent of all tests carried out yesterday.

No new deaths were recorded among those who had previously tested positive.

The number of people in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19 increased by 99 over the weekend to 1,959.

The number of people in intensive care increased by five over the weekend to 146.

A total of 264,991 people have now received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination, an increase of 40,151 over the weekend. A total of 3,698 have received their second dose, an increase of 367 over the weekend.