Lockdown restrictions are set to ease in Scotland at the end of next month, with the country re-entering a regional level system.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced last month that Scotland would head back into the levels system, similar to the restriction tiers that we had last year.

Now, new data from Public Health Scotland has given us a clue as to which level each area could enter when the system is re-introduced.

Our interactive map shows the rate of Covid cases in each local authority in Scotland, taking the weekly new positive cases per 100,000 people up to March 5.

Currently, Orkney Islands is the only local authority that could be placed into Level 0 based on the case numbers. Areas such as Glasgow City, North Ayrshire, Stirling and West Lothian could move to Level 3, based on cases.

Unlike the previous levels system, the Scottish Government is taking a harsher approach to deciding the levels.

They are taking point from the World Health Organisation, and are rebasing the indicators that are used to guide decisions on the allocation of levels on the recommendations made by WHO.

It is hoped these indicators will be set out fully in the middle of this month.

The framework reads: "Although there are some differences, this aligns broadly with our levels approach and indicates that we should lower or tighten some of the thresholds associated with each of our five levels."

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If following the WHO recommendations, levels will be based on cases per 100,000 population and the percentage of positive tests as 'core indicators', meaning the data in the above table details what we could expect, based on the cases per 100k.

The Scottish Government also say they will continue to look at forecasts of hospital admissions and ICU occupancy, as well as patterns of infection in older people and the ability of the NHS to resume paused serviced.

According to their Strategic Framework update, the plan is to progress through the proposed easings for Level 4, "at a pace that the data indicate is safe", and from there to allocate protection levels again in accordance with geographical epidemiological data.

They will look to the criteria set out by the World Health Organisation, and use it to assess whether it is safe to proceed with each new set of easings. 

However, they will also be adding one extra condition that they say "must be met" in addition to the six WHO criteria for easing lockdown. They say at least all of the JCVI groups 1-9 must have been offered a vaccination prior to the return to geographically varied levels.