East Ayrshire’s weekly coronavirus totals appear to be declining again after weeks of increase.

The latest Public Health Scotland figures show that there were 205 cases recorded between July 10-16.

To put that into comparison, just two weeks ago, we were recording more than 500 cases a week.

It gives us a seven-day rate per 100,000 of population of 168. Only five local authority areas have a better rate than that currently.

It comes as we moved to level zero of the Scottish Government’s coronavirus restrictions system on Monday.

The First Minister, speaking at a COVID briefing yesterday sought to remind people that the pandemic is not yet over and though we’re in level zero, that does not mean that all precautions and restrictions can be discarded.

She said: “We did take a further, very welcome step back to normality yesterday with the next step in our careful and gradual easing of restrictions.

“These rules are considerably more relaxed than the ones we all had to live with in the first part of the year.

“But case levels in Scotland are still high, and COVID is still dangerous. Because of vaccination, we are in a much better position than we were last year, or even at the start of this year. But we can’t abandon caution altogether.

“We all still have a role to play, in helping to protect ourselves and each other.”

Of the adult population in East Ayrshire 90.9 per cent have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 69 per cent have had two doses. Nationwide it’s 89.2 and 67 per cent respectively.