CONFIRMED cases of Covid-19 in Argyll and Bute have remained consistently among the lowest in Scotland for the past week as positive test numbers continue to fall across the country.

According to figures released by Public Health Scotland (PHS), there were only eight positive tests across the whole of the Argyll and Bute area for the seven days to March 7 – the most recent date for which numbers are available.

Three of the confirmed cases were in the ‘Lomond Shore’ neighbourhood, which takes in Cardross and most of the west shore of Loch Lomond.

In all other neighbourhoods across Helensburgh, and the rest of Argyll and Bute, case numbers were between zero and two – the point at which PHS does not release exact numbers to protect patients’ confidentiality.

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The latest figures give a positivity rate for the whole area of 9.3 cases per 100,000 of population – the third lowest of any Scottish council, higher only than Shetland, which had one new case, and Orkney, which had none.

The last time Argyll and Bute case numbers were so low was almost exactly six months ago, when just six confirmed positive tests were recorded in the seven to September 10.

There were no deaths linked to Covid-19 in Helensburgh, or anywhere else in Argyll and Bute, in the week up to March 7, according to figures published by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

Going by NRS records, 19 lives have been lost to Covid in Argyll and Bute so far in 2021, while the death toll in the area since the first Argyll and Bute case was confirmed 12 months ago today (March 11) is 105.

Meanwhile, almost 4,000 people in Argyll and Bute have received their first dose of one of the UK’s Covid vaccines in the past week.

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The latest PHS data says that up till Tuesday, March 9, 34,270 people had been given their first dose in Argyll and Bute, or 47 per cent of the area’s population – a rise of 3,889 from the figure of 30,381 (41.6 per cent) seven days earlier.

And 2,007 Argyll and Bute residents have now received their second dose – 2.7 per cent of the area’s population.

Unlike daily updates on case numbers, the PHS data on the progress of the vaccination programme is not broken down into detailed figures for Helensburgh and Lomond.

Across the NHS Highland area, the latest figures are 117,094 (43.4 per cent) for the first dose and 10,334 (3.8 per cent) for the second.

Next door to Helensburgh, in West Dunbartonshire, the latest numbers are 30,062 (41 per cent) for the first dose and 2,076 (2.8 per cent) for the second.

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