North Ayrshire’s weekly Covid totals continue to decline, with cases dropping by more than 50 in the past week.

The latest Public Health Scotland figures show that there were 386 positive tests returned in North Ayrshire between November 14-20.

That’s a decrease from 443 the week before and gives us a seven-day rate per 100,000 of population of 287.5.

By that measure we are currently the fourth least-affected council area in the country.

On vaccinations, 93.1 per cent of the population aged above 12-years-old in North Ayrshire have had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, an increase of 0.01 on the previous week. 84.9 per cent have had two doses, up 0.02 on the week before and 29.8 per cent have now had three, up 4.7 per cent.

Last week, figures from the National Records of Scotland showed that there were five deaths of people from North Ayrshire, up two on the week before.

Nicola Sturgeon confirmed yesterday that the vaccine certificate scheme will not be extended to other venues and events.

The government had been looking at whether the scheme should be expanded to encompass more settings amid rising Covid cases across Europe.

Speaking in Holyrood yesterday she said: “We have taken account of the fact that although our situation is precarious cases are currently stable and indeed slightly declining; and we have considered the inevitable impact vaccine certification has on the operation of businesses; and concluded that, at t his stage, extension would not be proportionate.”