No Covid cases recorded for first time in weeks

SHETLAND is the only local authority in Scotland to have recorded no new Covid-19 cases in the latest 24-hour period.

Wednesday was the first time since mid-August that the islands have gone a day without any new cases.

Following a substantial spike in cases in late August and early September, recent days have seen the prevalence of the virus in the islands declining considerably.

Across Scotland as a whole there were 2,997 new cases on Wednesday, with 28 new deaths recorded.

On a visit to Shetland this week, NHS Scotland’s clinical director Jason Leitch said prevalence had halved since the August peak but was still high enough that it would have necessitated locking down this time last year, but the presence of vaccines has “changed the game”.