Cases so far are said to be linked to travel

Concerns have been raised about the potential rise of the Indian coronavirus variant in Scotland, with current estimates of 20-30 cases.

Like the Kent strain behind the rise in cases over winter, the B.1.617 variant is thought to be more infectious.

There is some concern the so-called Indian coronavirus variant could be behind a recent rise in cases in Glasgow, with the city’s infection rate per 100,000 rising to more than 70 in recent days.

While scientists think the Indian variant is more transmissible, it is not known that it causes more severe illness or is resistant to the vaccines in use.

Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said more cases of the variant in Scotland were inevitable, but cautioned that just now there was no evidence of community spread.

He said the cases so far had been linked to recent travel.

Professor Linda Bauld, a public health expert, has said testing should be used to find out the prevalence of the variant in Scotland, particularly in Glasgow.

She said this should include door-to-door testing: “I’m not going to speculate – genomic sequencing takes time, but there is a suggestion this variant may be even more transmissible than the Kent variant.

“If that’s the case then the test-andprotect response needs to be super robust and we need to identify where cases are.

“In other parts of the UK where we’ve seen these cases, surge testing is needed, that means not just asking people to turn up, it’s going door-to-door.

“Our attention needs to be focused on that and when cases are identified how do we give maximum support to communities to successfully self isolate.”