Today, 18th of April, in Scotland the wearing of face masks/coverings is no longer the law but has reverted to guidance.

Public Health experts have strongly recommended that face coverings continue to be worn where appropriate – including in indoor crowded spaces and on public transport – to reduce the spread of COVID-19 due to the high rate of transmission in our communities.

Test and Protect

The changes to Test and Protect mean that from 18 April:

• most people without symptoms will no longer be asked to take COVID-19 tests
• free lateral flow devices (LFDs) for the purposes of twice weekly routine testing will no longer be available for the general population given the changing advice, but will continue to be free for any purpose for which testing continues to be advised – for clinical care, for health and social care workers and for people visiting vulnerable individuals in care homes or hospitals
• until the end of April, people with symptoms should still isolate and get a PCR test
• vaccinated close contacts of someone with COVID-19 should continue to test daily for seven days with LFDs

People who have symptoms of COVID-19 will still be able to book PCR tests in the usual way until 30 April. From that date, test sites will close and people with symptoms will no longer be advised that they need to seek a test. The public health advice for people who feel unwell will be to stay at home until they feel better, to reduce the risk of infecting other people.

Click on these links to find out more:

• NHS Inform
• Public Health Scotland

There has been no data released by Public Health Scotland since Thursday 14th of April. On that date there were 4,196 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in Scotland, even with reduced testing taking place. Over 10% of these cases were people becoming re-infected. On Thursday 14th of April there were 40 more deaths (Covid confirmed) of people in Scotland. 2,042 people were in hospital because of Covid and 20 couldn’t breathe without mechanical assistance in ICU.

In England and Wales the ONS (Office of National Statistics) reported that for the week ending 1st of April there were 853 deaths involving Covid . 62.0% (529 deaths) had this recorded as the underlying cause of death.

The number of deaths involving COVID-19 in the UK increased from 1,006 to 1,061 in the week ending 1 April 2022. Deaths involving COVID-19 accounted for 9.3% of all deaths in that week; an increase from 8.1% in the previous week.

In Scotland in the week 4 to 10 April, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) reported, 139 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate.