Coronavirus Scotland RECAP: Nicola Sturgeon gives lunchtime Covid-19 update today | Scotland lockdown roadmap | 'Cautious optimism' as Glasgow remains in level three | Lockdown decision by Friday | Top 10 areas with highest vaccine rates

A “pioneering” new study may pave the way for more treatments for Covid-19 variants and fresh coronaviruses in the future, scientist have suggested.

Research has provided “crucial new insights” into the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, “revealing new pathways to target the virus within host cells”.

The team of scientists – led by the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford and the Rosalind Franklin Institute – studied the key viral RNA molecule which is “at the heart” of the life cycle of viruses like SARS-CoV-2.

Researchers studied the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in lung epithelium cell lines using a “pioneering approach” to see how it interacted with different proteins.

The findings, published in the journal Molecular Cell, showed that the viral RNA interacted with dozens of cellular proteins, many of which have “great potential for new therapeutic approaches against Covid-19”.

Dr Alfredo Castello, from the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Virus Research (CVR) said the results were “extremely exciting” and could “pave the way to identify the best potential therapeutic targets”.

A total of 151 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending May 14 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – up 17% on the previous week.

The bank holiday on May 3 will have affected the number of deaths registered in the previous week, when registry offices were likely to be closed, the ONS said.

Around one in 66 (1.5%) deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to May 14 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

This week will be critical in Glasgow’s hopes of seeing Covid-19 restrictions ease, the Health Secretary has said.

The decision was taken to keep Scotland’s biggest city under Level 3 restrictions while the rest of the country – excluding Moray, which was then also moved down – went to Level 2 earlier this month.

On Monday, the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area reported a seven-day case rate per 100,000 people of 99.4, more than double the Scottish average of 43.9.

The seven-day average rate per 100,000 people for the Glasgow City Council area was 136.8 on Monday, up from 133.3 the previous day.

A decision on whether the city will also be able to see restrictions ease is expected later this week but Humza Yousaf said this week would be “critical”.

“There’s a range of data we look at,” the Health Secretary said.

“We obviously want to see those cases per 100,000 falling, we obviously want to see the test positivity falling, we want to look at hospital admissions and also ICU admissions – I think that’s quite critical and quite key.

“But also what I want to hear from local public health directors is can they contain it? Can it be managed?”

Around half the coronavirus vaccine appointments at a major concert venue and vaccination centre this weekend were missed, it has emerged.

The PA news agency understands there were many cancellations and non-attendances on Saturday and Sunday at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow amid rising case numbers in the city.

The concert venue originally formed part of the NHS Louisa Jordan hospital, which closed at the end of March having opened in the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) last year, and has the capacity to administer up to 10,000 jabs per day.

A statement from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said: “We want to thank everyone who has come forward for a vaccine so far.

“We’ve had incredible success to date and this is a testament to the hard work of all those staff from across NHSGGC who have been involved in the rollout of the programme.

“We have now vaccinated over 98% of people over the age 50 with their first dose.

“We recognise that there were an unusual amount of cancellations and non-attendances for vaccinations at The Hydro over the weekend.

“We are looking into the details further to understand the reasons behind this.

“We strongly encourage everyone to take up the opportunity to be vaccinated once they are invited.”