National clinical director explains what they learnt from tackling Aberdeen Covid cluster

Scotland's national clinical director says a combination of Test and Protect, and people following localised lockdown rules, helped bring a cluster of coronavirus cases in Aberdeen to an end.

NHS Grampian confirmed yesterday that a cluster associated with bars in the city - which led to a three-week lockdown last month - had now concluded.

It means any new cases identified in the region are not being linked to that initial outbreak.

Original 106 has asked Professor Jason Leitch what health officials learned from how they dealt with the outbreak - you can watch his response in the video above.

Meanwhile the first minister has hit back at claims lockdown restrictions are being imposed on areas in a political way.

A rise in cases in Glasgow has led to a ban on indoor gatherings - but pubs and restaurants remain open, in contrast to the rules imposed in Aberden.

Douglas Lumsden, co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, claimed decisions were being made by the Scottish Government based on their "like" for an area:

So in Aberdeen we had travel restrictions, no visiting and all hospitality closed. Glasgow with higher infection rate only stops visiting. Shows how much the SNP dislike Aberdeen

— Douglas Lumsden MSP (@dlumsden) September 1, 2020

But Ms Sturgeon said at her daily briefing that the claims were "ridiculous" and "depressing".

She said: "It is very complicated, I know that, but I hope I have given people a sense of what drives these decisions. And we look at what’s driving an outbreak in Aberdeen. It was very much pubs. In Glasgow it’s households and that basically leads to the restrictions that unfortunately we have to put on.

"I’ve got to the point that if there are still people out there prepared to think I am taking these decisions from some kind of crazy, party-political point of view then they are always going to believe the worst of me and there’s probably nothing I can do to convince them.

"But I hope that kind of view is the minority and I hope that the majority of reasonable people – whether you agree with my politics or not and whether you agree with the decisions I arrive at or not – do get a sense we are trying to take them for the right reasons."

She also said Mr Lumsden had been part of the group which had made the decision on the initial lockdown in Aberdeen.

It is not the first time the pair have clashed over the restrictions in the city. After two weeks of the rules being in place, Mr Lumsden said he supported an easing of the local lockdown - and claimed the local incident management group agreed.

But Ms Sturgeon kept them in place for a further week, saying experts supported that move.