North Ayrshire councillors voted to close schools early as area records highest weekly Covid rate

NHS Ayrshire & Arran has recorded another 140 new coronavirus cases overnight.The region's total now stands at 10, 996.NHS Ayrshire & Arran Covid hospital patient numbers are down by seven to 194.But ICU numbers are back at a second wave high of 12.Latest 7-day case rates per 100,000 show that North Ayrshire is currently the worst-hit in the county (341.4) with East on 320.5 and South on 266.4.Across Scotland 1,877 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours - a 10 per cent positivity

Ayrshire’s first case in March to surging positive cases across the region in recent weeks and months almost 10,000 county residents were struck down with COVID-19 in 2020. Up to December 31 a total of 9,591 people had tested positive for the deadly bug last year.

Ayrshire have hit another new grim record high.

Ogilvie School Campus in November, can lead to the school closing for a period of time.

Get the stories that interest you straight to your inbox every day with our personalised newsletterAyrshire hospitals are dealing with a record number of coronavirus patients, new figures show.Statistics released by Public Health Scotland reveal there are 201 Covid patients in the region  - the highest number since the pandemic began.That includes a further 11 virus-related admissions in the last 24 hours.A total of 11 deaths have also been confirmed as Ayrshire tries to get to grips with a

Scottish Government has published coronavirus infection rates for each local authority area across the country. Weekly data released by Public Health Scotland shows the seven-day positive rate per 100,000 population for the week between December 28 and January 3 across the country was 290.8.

Ayrshire Maternity Unit (AMU) has issued an update on visiting restrictions following mainland Scotland going into full lockdown again.

Get the stories that interest you straight to your inbox every day with our personalised newsletterPeople in Ayrshire have been told to ‘stay at home’ until the end of January as part of a new national lockdown – with schools to stay shut.Nicola Sturgeon has announced that the strictest lockdown seen since March last year will come into force from midnight tonight.The First Minister told how hospitals in Ayrshire and Arran are at 96 per cent of their Covid capacity.The new restrictions will

variant, which is responsible for a large number of infections in Scotland, has resulted in the Government extending online learning. The move, which applies to all parts of Scotland, will be reviewed in mid January.

Covid-19 pandemic.Cases have soared in the wake of Christmas and New Year celebrations.The worrying stats called re-opening schools as planned into question.Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce new lockdown ­measures on Monday.On her agenda is a potential plan to shut schools for the next month.Schools in Scotland are due to return full-time on January 18 – but a rise in infections has prompted plans for a longer school shutdown.While some Scots think keeping kids in the classroom is all wrong,

Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.Councillors have expressed cross-party support for local authority employees to receive the same £500 bonus being awarded to health workers.Members of North Lanarkshire Council’s Joint Consultative Committee for local government employees unanimously agreed to send an official letter to the Scottish Government supporting calls from trade unions that its recently announced bonus fails to acknowledge the work

school closures after the festive period could still be on the cards due to a sharp increase in covid infections linked to the new mutated strain. The First Minister confirmed this week 42.8 per cent of positive tests processed for Scotland are now thought to be the fast-spreading form of coronavirus.

Get the stories that interest you straight to your inbox every day with our personalised newsletterAyrshire has recorded a record-breaking 225 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours.It's the largest single-day rise in cases since the pandemic arrived in the region in March.A further seven Covid deaths have also been recorded in the area, new Scottish Government figures show.Three were recorded in South Ayrshire and two apiece in North and East Ayrshire.There are now 162 people battling

Ayrshire tonight.

Ayrshire region has the highest coronavirus case rate per 100,000 population in Scotland. The latest data from the festive period shows that East Ayrshire has the worst infection rate in the country over the past seven days.

direct to your inboxThe UK has recorded its highest daily increase of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.Government figures show that as of 9am on Bank Holiday Monday, there had been a further 41,385 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,329,730.But the figures for deaths and cases are likely to be higher as Scotland is not releasing death data between December 24 and 28, and Northern Ireland is not providing either case or

Covid  have been recorded in Scotland in the last 24 hours.

Get the stories that interest you straight to your inbox every day with our personalised newsletterPlans to build a new £14.5 million school in Irvine moved a stage further this week.North Ayrshire Council want to build a primary school and early years centre which will serve the Montgomerie Park and Knadgerhill areas of the town.And on Friday the council found out it had been successful in a funding bid that will help develop their plans.Plans for a new non-denominational school – to satisfy an

Andy said: “I only joined the gym just to lose a bit of weight before my 30th birthday.“ I was eating a lot of rubbish and not looking after myself.“I can’t believe that just two years later I’m sitting here as Scotland’s strongest man.“Doing something like this never crossed my mind before.“But ever since I took part in my first event 18 months ago, which I ended up winning, things have just kicked on.”Andy won all but one of his events in the behind-closed-doors competition.He deadlifted 310kg