Covid cases in West Lothian fall as First Minister announces changes to isolation rules

The number of covid cases being reported in West Lothian has dropped as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today confirmed the isolation period will be cut from 10 to seven days from midnight.People who test positive will be able to end self-isolation after seven days if they have no fever and record two negative lateral flow tests.In another change to the rules, close contacts of positive cases who are older than 18 years and four months and are fully vaccinated can now take a lateral flow test every day for seven days.In a bid to target those who have not yet had their jabs, those who are not fully vaccinated will still have to isolate for 10 days and be asked to take a PCR test.West Lothian recorded 3936 new positive cases in the seven days leading up to January 2 and the latest seven-day rate per 100,000 population is 2141.This has dropped from the previous seven-day period, when the rate was 2351, however sadly, one covid-related death was reported during the last seven days, on December 27.The county is also no longer at the top of the covid table in Scotland - that honour now goes to North Lanarkshire, with South Lanarkshire and Glasgow City following behind.Some 281 new cases were reported yesterday, down from a high of 755 on December 29 - although there is likely to be a delay in the reporting of numbers due to holidays.Ms Sturgeon also said today that people who are asymptomatic and return a positive lateral flow test will not have to confirm their result with a PCR test.But she warned things were likely to get worse before they get better, adding: “The results of the most recent ONS (Office of National Statistics) survey, published just a few minutes ago, suggest that in the week to December 31 that had risen to