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Footfall at Scotland’s shops is still languishing around 25% below the levels recorded before the coronavirus pandemic, according to new figures.

The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC)-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor has begun comparing its 2021 figures to those of 2019 as a result of Covid-19’s impact on the industry in the last year.

According to its May data, Scottish footfall was down by 24.7% in year-on-two-years (Yo2Y) – a 27.4 percentage point increase from April.

However this was still above the UK average decline of 27.7% (Yo2Y).

Shopping centre footfall also declined by 33% in May (Yo2Y) in Scotland, up from -59.0% in April.

David Lonsdale, SRC director, said: “The recovery in shopper footfall gathered momentum in the first full month that shops were able to open and trade since Scotland’s lockdown was lifted in late April.

“The unleashed pent-up demand saw marked improvements in footfall right across the board.

“That said, visits to retail destinations still languished a quarter lower than during the comparable period two years ago.

“Reopening alone has yet to prove a magic bullet for our hard-pressed retail industry, the country’s largest private sector employer, which remains unable to trade at capacity due to physical distancing and caps on the number of customers in stores.

“Without a rebound in footfall and increased demand, many retailers will struggle to make ends meet, placing a question mark over the viability of stores and jobs and the vitality of our retail destinations.

“Retailers are playing their part in trying to tempt shoppers, but policy makers need to think more creatively too about how they might reignite consumer confidence, entice people back into our retail destinations, and kick-start demand – through a clear plan for the safe return of office workers, and perhaps through free parking, or a voucher scheme to encourage customers to the shops as is planned for Northern Ireland.”

The data also suggests footfall in Glasgow decreased by 23.1% (Yo2Y), a 28.7 percentage point improvement from April.

Neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as fatigue and depression are common among people with coronavirus and may be just as likely in people with mild cases, new research suggests.

Evidence from 215 studies of Covid-19 indicates a wide range of ways in which Covid-19 can affect mental health and the brain.

The studies from 30 countries involved a total of 105,638 people with acute symptoms (the main disease stage, rather than longer-term impacts) of Covid-19, including data up to July 2020.

Lead author Dr Jonathan Rogers, of UCL Psychiatry and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We had expected that neurological and psychiatric symptoms would be more common in severe Covid-19 cases, but instead we found that some symptoms appeared to be more common in mild cases.

“It appears that Covid-19 affecting mental health and the brain is the norm, rather than the exception.”

The decision to make travellers from Portugal quarantine may be “politically motivated”, an infection expert has said.

Portugal will be moved from the green to amber travel list, requiring visitors and returning holidaymakers to quarantine in the UK from 4am on Tuesday.

The UK’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps blamed a rising infection rate and the apparent detection of a “Nepal mutation”, increasing concerns about the risk level.

But Dr Christine Tait-Burkard, an expert in infection and immunity at the University of Edinburgh, suggested the decision may be “retaliation” in response to European countries requiring Britons to quarantine on arrival.

Asked whether it was a necessary measure, Dr Tait-Burkard said: “Not necessarily in terms of case levels.

“Portugal is still very similar to the UK actually, and so that means the actual risk of going to the country is not necessarily higher than staying in the UK.

“What has made the decision to some extent is that Portugal now also has the Delta variant.

“We should probably not be surprised, given that British tourists went there and we have a large number of Delta variant cases.

“There’s also concern about a so-called Nepal variant which is kind of a mix of the Delta variants and the Kent (Alpha) variant.

“That is causing some concern, but it is a very last-minute announcement again.”

Speaking on the BBC Good Morning Scotland programme, she added: “It potentially is also a little bit politically motivated, seeing that many European countries have put the UK on the quarantine list.

“It might be a little bit of political retaliation behind that as well.”