EASING restrictions around physical distancing is still the “big unknown” in tackling Covid, Scotland’s national clinical director has said.

Professor Jason Leitch said “all the scientists” were working out how this can be done safely, through trials such as the pilot club night held in Liverpool on Friday for 3000 people.

Asked about the possibility of football fans returning to stadiums, Leitch said it was likely to be only home fans in the first weeks allowed to attend, before expanding it to some away fans from supporters’ clubs to ensure they can be traced.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Off the Ball he said: “Over the whole season, it depends what happens in the winter. And the winter is a little bit of an unknown for us in terms of the virus.

“We will probably need more vaccinations, we will probably have a little bit of a surge in the virus globally over that period, so the winter is a bit tricky.

“But I can imagine a scenario in which we start with home fans, moving to away fans who we know – and then maybe into the later season you start to get that more open access for everyone.”

He added: “The big unknown just now – and we are working on this, all of the scientists are working on this – it is one of the reasons why trials are so important in Liverpool and around the country – is physical distancing.

“What are we going to do about physical distancing in September, or December?

“So if you start to reduce physical distancing, you have got to have the virus almost eliminated in your country to make it safe.”

Yesterday Scotland recorded one new coronavirus death and 175 new cases of the virus. It means the death toll under the daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – stands at 7660.

Meanwhile surge testing is to be deployed across parts of east London after several cases of the South African and Brazilian variants were detected.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that NHS test and Trace was working with Tower Hamlets Council to provide additional testing and genomic sequencing in targeted areas within the E1 postcode from today.

It follows the identification of “several” confirmed cases of the variant B.1.351, first seen in South Africa, and the P1 variant, first identified in Brazil.

The department said all the confirmed cases were self-isolating and there were no links between the new cases and the cluster of cases recently identified in the south London area.

A potential for coronavirus cases to “reignite” still exists as many adults remain unvaccinated in the UK, a former chief scientific adviser to the Government has warned.

Professor Sir Mark Walport told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve got 35% of adults who are not vaccinated and 60% who have only had one dose and the truth is the virus has not gone away. The mistake that has been made repeatedly really is relaxing just slightly too early.”