FOUR more deaths of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland have been reported.
There are 281 new cases of the disease and 1.5% of the 22,183 new tests for Covid-19 were positive.
Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch has raised hopes people will be able to go to pubs and cinemas without social distancing by autumn if virus levels continue to recede.
However he said that he thought it would be next year before international travel was “anywhere near normal”.
Speaking on yesterday’s Off the Ball programme on BBC Radio Scotland, Leitch said there would “almost certainly” be some sort of Covid certification for international travel but its introduction for domestic use, such as to gain entry to pubs, would be “much more difficult”.
He said he was heartened by the news this week that levels of the virus in the population had dropped to 43 per 100,000, the first time it had been below 50 since last September.
If levels continue to drop he said he was hopeful football fans outwith Glasgow would be able to travel to Hampden for the Euros in June although restrictions could still be in place for car sharing and social distancing could be required on public transport. It is hoped that around 12,500 fans will be allowed in the stadium, 25% of its capacity.
Meanwhile, a scientist advising the UK Government has stressed that blood clots possibly associated with coronavirus jags are “extraordinarily rare events”, adding that no medicine is totally free from side effects.
Professor Peter Openshaw spoke after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced it is investigating reports of rare blood clots associated with the Janssen vaccine, whose parent company is Johnson & Johnson. The UK Government has ordered 30 million doses but the jag is still to be approved for use in the UK.
Four serious cases of rare blood clots have been reported in connection with the Janssen jag, three in the US roll-out and one in a clinical trial. One death was recorded.
Professor Openshaw said it wouldn’t be surprising if it did cause rare blood clots as it was based on technology similar to that used by AstraZeneca.
Last week the EMA said brain blood clots with low platelet count should be considered as a rare side effect of the AstraZeneca jag.
UK regulators have now said that people aged between 18 and 29 should be offered alternative vaccines.
Out of 20m people vaccinated in the UK, 79 people have suffered a blood clot afterwards with ten of those in Scotland.
The EMA is also looking into five cases of rare capillary leak syndrome in people given the AstraZeneca jag.
“These are extraordinarily rare events and there is no medicine that is going to be completely free of side effects,” said Professor Openshaw.
However he added: “It wouldn’t be surprising to find the J&J, the Janssen vaccine, also causes rare blood clots, because it’s based on an adenovirus technology which is not that far away from the technology which is being used in the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
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