Before we turn to First Minister’s Question Time, I invite the First Minister to update Parliament on coronavirus and a very serious rail incident.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Before I give an update on coronavirus, I want to address briefly the impact of the serious storms across Scotland last night. There has been significant travel disruption, and efforts are under way across the country to restore services and roads to normal.

However, of most urgent concern is an extremely serious incident on the rail line west of Stonehaven, where a ScotRail passenger train derailed earlier this morning. The emergency services are currently on site, and a major incident has been declared. I have just come off a call with Network Rail and the emergency services. Although details are still emerging, I am afraid to say that there are early reports of serious injuries. The Scottish Government resilience room is operational, and I will be convening a SGoRR meeting with partner organisations as soon as possible this afternoon. Updates will, of course, be provided as they become available. However, my immediate thoughts—and, I am sure, the thoughts of everyone across the chamber—are with all those who have been involved in the incident.

I turn to the daily update on Covid. An additional 47 positive cases were confirmed yesterday. That represents 1 per cent of the people who were newly tested yesterday, and it takes the total number of cases to 19,126. A full health board breakdown will be available later, but my provisional information is that 24 of the 47 new cases are in the NHS Grampian health board area. It is not yet clear how many are connected to the on-going outbreak in Aberdeen. I will say a bit more about that shortly.

A total of 265 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed Covid, which is four fewer than yesterday. Three people are in intensive care, which is the same number as yesterday. I am also pleased to say, yet again, that in the past 24 hours no deaths have been registered of patients who had tested positive in the previous 28 days, so the number of deaths that have been recorded under that measurement remains 2,491.

National Records of Scotland has just published its more comprehensive weekly report, which includes deaths of people who were confirmed through a test as having Covid—as our daily figures do—and deaths in which Covid is a presumed factor. The latest NRS report covers the period to Sunday 9 August. It records the total number of registered deaths that have either a confirmed or a presumed link to Covid as 4,213. Of those, five were registered in the seven days up to Sunday, which is a decrease of two from the previous week and is the lowest weekly figure since the outbreak began.

That said, every single loss of life is a source of grief and heartbreak, so my condolences again go to everybody who has lost a loved one.

However, the NRS figures reinforce the point that, as of now, Covid has been driven to very low levels in Scotland. That is what has allowed us to take significant steps out of lockdown over July and August and, of course, it is the reason why schools are able to open this week. Many children will today be having their first day back after five months. I wish them well, and I want to thank all teachers and school staff for all the work that they have done, and to thank parents for their efforts in supporting their children in these unusual times.

Schools are going back because we have been successful in reducing Covid rates in the community, but there is no room for complacency. Today’s figures show that we are still seeing new cases, and the on-going cluster in Aberdeen shows that the virus can spread rapidly when it gets the opportunity to do so. From the latest available figures, a total of 272 cases have been identified in the Grampian health board area since 26 July. As of now, 177 of those are thought to be associated with the cluster that has been linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 940 contacts have now been identified from those 177 cases. In general, in the past few days, we have seen a slight fall in the number of new cases in Grampian and in cases directly associated with the cluster, but despite that slight reduction, the number of cases there is still far higher than that in any other part of the country, and is considerably higher than it was in Grampian before the outbreak started.

Based on an assessment from the incident management team and advice from the chief medical officer, the Scottish Government’s conclusion is that it is not yet possible to lift any of the restrictions that were put in place last week for Aberdeen. Aberdeen City Council has been fully involved in the discussions, as has Police Scotland, which reports good compliance with the restrictions. Therefore, people who live in Aberdeen should not go into someone else’s house, and hospitality businesses such as pubs, restaurants and cafes must remain closed for now. People who live in Aberdeen should not travel more than 5 miles, unless they have to. They can travel for work and education, but should not travel for leisure or other non-essential purposes. Similarly, we are advising people from outside Aberdeen not to travel into the city unless they have to.

I know that people in Aberdeen, who of course today are coping with the impacts of severe weather as well as Covid, will be disappointed by that decision, but I want to thank them for complying so well with the rules that we put in place last week. We continue to watch closely for any signs that the outbreak has spread to Aberdeenshire in any significant way, but at present we are not placing any additional restrictions on people who live in the shire.

I stress that nobody wants the restrictions to be in place for longer than is necessary. They will be reviewed again in one week’s time, and as soon as we can relax any of them, we will do so. However, at the moment, the number of new cases that we are seeing is still too high for that to be a safe or sensible course of action.

The final thing that I want to highlight in relation to the Aberdeen outbreak is that the significant Majority of contacts that are identified are being traced within a day, and all contacts are being traced within three days. That is a real credit to the work of our test-and-protect teams, including the people from outside Grampian who have been helping with the work in Aberdeen. I am grateful to all of them.

To conclude, I note that the situation in Aberdeen reminds us how quickly the virus can take off and how much effort is then required to bring outbreaks under control. It therefore also reminds us that we must, for the country as a whole to make further progress out of lockdown, continue to suppress the virus. Government has a critical role—indeed, it has the central role—to play in achieving that, but we are, ultimately, all dependent on each other. The choices that all of us make as individuals on physical distancing, face masks and washing our hands will decide whether we move forward or backward in our fight against Covid.

I will, therefore, close by emphasising again the importance of FACTS—the five key things that all of us must do.

Face coverings should be worn in enclosed spaces.

Avoid crowded places.

Clean hands and hard surfaces regularly.

Two-metre distancing remains the rule.

Self-isolate and book a test if you have symptoms.

Those are the golden rules that can help us to stop the virus spreading. I ask everyone across Scotland to continue to comply fully with them.

The Presiding Officer:

Before we turn to questions, I remind members that most supplementary questions have been on Covid and therefore I will continue to take all supplementary questions, Constituency and otherwise, after question 7. However, members who wish to ask a supplementary question should press their request-to-speak button as soon as possible.