As such, officials are confident they have contained the outbreak and local restrictions in seven of the region’s postcodes are expected to be lifted tomorrow.
Scottish Ministers say people in the area have been complying with their advice to stay local, issued last Thursday, and they note there was no significant increase in travel over the border at the weekend.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Group today. He said: “I would like to thank everyone in Dumfries and Galloway for following the advice and continuing to comply with the restrictions over the weekend to stop the spread of the virus.
“Working closely with local partners, we are confident the outbreak has now been contained. However, we want to ensure that the risk of contracting the virus in these communities is not higher than the rest of the country before lifting restrictions.
“We are asking people in the area to continue to follow the current restrictions and we will aim to lift these as soon as we possibly can. I have asked for further assurances before doing so and the Scottish Government will provide an update tomorrow.”
Dumfries and Galloway Council leader Elaine Murray added: “I want to thank the communities within the affected postcode areas of Dumfries and Galloway for following all the Government guidelines over the weekend and for the communities patience and understanding. This response shows how our communities in Dumfries and Galloway pull together at difficult times like this and I want to personally thank them for everything that they have done.
“I want to thank the staff involved in our local partnership who have helped with the response of the outbreak over the weekend, particularly our partners in NHS Dumfries and Galloway, Police Scotland and, of cours,e our council staff.”
