Aberdeen's coronavirus outbreak now officially over

The coronavirus outbreak that began in a number of Aberdeen pubs and sparked a three-week lockdown is over.

Public health officials at NHS Grampian came to that conclusion on Wednesday, with new cases having fallen dramatically in the region.

More than 220 Covid-19 infections were directly linked to the cluster related to hospitality in Scotland’s third largest city, which started in early August.

Around 400 cases were recorded in the Grampian health board area over that period, peaking at 39 new cases in a day on August 8.

The Scottish Government quickly ordered a local lockdown in Aberdeen which shut down pubs, restaurants and cafes in the north-east city and limited non-essential travel to five miles.

Restrictions effectively banning indoor gatherings between households, indoor care home visits and non-essential hospital visits were also implemented – near identical to measures announced for Glasgow on Wednesday amid surging cases there.

Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden has accused Nicola Sturgeon of a “central belt bias” over the less severe measures announced this week for Glasgow.

Referring to the 2014 independence referendum, he also tweeted: “Glasgow is a ‘yes’ city so escapes the lockdown Aberdeen had.”

Hospitality businesses have so far been allowed to stay open in the west of Scotland but residents in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire council areas must not meet up indoors with people from other households.

The First Minister said rising cases in these three areas are being driven “primarily” through household gatherings.

Daily cases in the Grampian region have slowed to single figures since August 21, the same week as the Aberdeen lockdown was wound down, with just three new infections reported in the last 24 hours.

A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: “I can confirm the incident management team met yesterday and concluded the outbreak linked to the hospitality trade in Aberdeen City is now over.”