LAST Tuesday, the First Minister outlined our path out of lockdown towards a normal life.

Achieving that requires us to lower infection rates further, so that Track and Trace can isolate outbreaks.

Few might know this, but the county has survived this awful year reasonably well.

This is because we are lumped in with the rest of NHS Lothian, which has generally suffered worse.

Last month, infections per week per 100,000 were running at 56 here, while Midlothian was at 92, West Lothian at 160 and Edinburgh at 171.

The county is divided into two-dozen infection zones (IZs).

Last month, three (Dunbar West, Prestonpans West and Haddington North) were over 100 per 100,000 people, with four (Longniddry/Aberlady, Musselburgh North, Haddington Rural and Tranent North) between 50 and 99.

The other two-thirds were doing even better.

Because cases are in single digits, just one or two cases can make statistics fluctuate

Despite Sky News running a scare story of East Lothian soaring to 208 cases, recent official data contradicts this, with both East Lothian’s and Edinburgh’s rates dropping below 50 per 100,000, despite both Midlothian and West Lothian staying above 100 per 100,000. These figures represent three per cent of all tests performed.

This month, our local figures have improved, but not much. Dunbar West was now over 200 per 100,000, while Musselburgh East was at 150. Two other zones (Prestonpans East and North Berwick South) now show rates over 100. All this is retrograde.

Four (Wallyford, Tranent North, Gullane and Haddington Rural) were above 50 cases per 100,000 per week.

All but one zone are in single figures, some all coming from a single household. But this still compares poorly with Scottish Borders at 17, or Orkney at zero.

No explanation exists why we have seen scant improvement. Commuting into Edinburgh (especially by train) remains drastically reduced as many work from home.

Spring weather has brought city dwellers to our coast and countryside, but Edinburgh’s rate of 42 betters ours of 48.

The impact of schools returning is yet to be felt, but that will be uniform across Scotland.

With priority groups to receive vaccine by mid-April and representing 99 per cent of all those hospitalised, such decline in infection as we have seen here should improve.

That said, international travel will remain unlikely, not least because Europe is experiencing a third wave of infections, while relaxation on local travel restrictions should offer a more normal summer of staycationers and opportunity to rediscover our own country.