Number of coronavirus patients almost doubles

The number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 across Tayside has almost doubled since Christmas Day, analysis of the latest figures reveals.

Hospitalisation figures across Scotland have risen steadily every day since Christmas with the impact of household mixing on that day only likely to begin to be felt from this week onwards.

The latest figures, released yesterday, show coronavirus cases have surged since Christmas Day with more than 2,039 new cases of the virus confirmed across the countr y in the last 24 hours, and 68 deaths recorded in the same timeframe.

Since December 25, the numbers of people being admitted to hospital with the virus has risen steadily every day from 973 patients to 1,384 yesterday – up 411 in under a fortnight.

NHS Tayside has seen the number of patients with coronavirus almost double between Christmas Day and yesterday, from 61 to 109.

In Fife, the number in hospital rose from 46 on Christmas Day to 67 yesterday.

Crucially, hospital data will only this week begin to reflect the impact of household mixing over Christmas due to a lag of around 10 to 14 d ay s between infection and needing to go to hospital for treatment.

Nationally, the total number of patients in hospital is close to the peak of April last year but there was also a spike in early November.

The latest figures show there were 1,384 people currently in hospital – 251 more people than was the case exactly a week ago.

There are a total of 95 people in intensive care, an increase of 26 from seven days ago.

The numbers in ICU have also experienced a daily increase, with 47 Covid-19 patients in hospital on Christmas Day to 95 as of yesterday.

Most people who become seriously u nw e l l with Covid-19 will only enter hospital around 10 to 14 days after their initial infection.

Newly reported coronavirus cases have been high over the last fortnight, usually topping 2,000 cases each day.

Speaking during her most recent C o v i d -1 9 briefing on Tuesday, Nicola Sturgeon said the new variant of the virus is responsible for around 50% of n ew cases in Scotland – and that that proportion is rising.

The latest figures show 2,039 people tested positive for the virus, down from 2,529 the previous day.

The c o u n t r y ’s test positivity rate is 10.5%.

A regional breakdown shows 177 of the new cases were recorded in Tayside and 89 in Fife.

The latest figures, released yesterday, show there were 68 deaths of people who had tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours – the highest total recorded in January so far.

Three people from Tayside are among the latest daily total and four in Fife.

Mo r e than 100,000 people have been vaccinated across Scotland.

The first minister said she expects that more than 2.5 million people will have received at least the first dose of the vaccination by May.

That will include everyone on what is called the JCVI priority list – everyone over the age of 50 and people under 50 who have specific underlying health conditions.

Ms Sturgeon has said it may be possible to lift the latest Covid-19 restrictions if the vaccination programme manages to push ahead.

So far, the government has published vaccination numbers weekly, but the first minister has said she will consider the frequency of publication.

However, she said she was mindful of not putting too many “burdens” on those working on data collection publication.

SURGE: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the new variant of the virus is responsible for around 50% of new cases in Scotland.