Scotland’s Sturgeon Warns Virus Spreading Amid New Outbreaks

(Bloomberg) -- Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned coronavirus is spreading again, as her government struggles to balance protecting health with the need to safeguard jobs and kickstart the economy.

Speaking to reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday, Sturgeon said the so-called R-number or reproduction rate is “probably above 1, perhaps as high as 1.4,” meaning virus transmission is increasing. The number refers to the number of people each new Covid-19 case infects.

Several small outbreaks across Scotland have been linked to pubs and bars as well as schools, which reopened at the start of August. Larger infection spikes have been identified in the oil hub of Aberdeen and in the country’s largest city Glasgow, which led to the tightening of social-distancing rules.

More than a hundred cases were confirmed on Wednesday, pushing the total since the pandemic began to almost 20,900, with about 2,500 fatalities. Separate figures, which include deaths that are suspected of being related to the illness, last week showed the number of deaths from the pandemic at 4,228.

Still, Sturgeon said the transmission rate is “of slightly less concern when overall prevalence of the virus is low -- and overall prevalence is still low.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.