Covid’s not over for 1-in-15 Scots
Number of cases increases for SEVENTH WEEK in a row
THE number of Scots with Covid-19 has increased for the seventh week in a row, latest statistics have revealed.
One in 15 people north of the Border – about 6.48 per cent of Scotland’s population – were estimated to have the virus in the week ending July 14, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday, .
This means around 340,900 people in Scotland had the virus, according to the infection survey.
It is a slight increase on the estimated 334,000 people who had the virus in the week to July 7, with Scotland having the highest proportion of people infected of all UK nations.
In England and Wales, the ONS estimated one in 17 people had Covid-19 in the week ending July 13, while in Northern Ireland it was one in 20.
The figures suggest about 3.8million people – one in 17 of the UK population – has the virus.
That is up by a quarter of a million – or 7 per cent – on the week before when there were 3.5million Covid infections recorded.
The number of people testing positive across the UK has been rising since the start of June but the rate of rise is showing signs of slowing down. Kara Steel, senior statistician for the ONS Covid-19 infection survey, said: “It is too early to say if this most recent wave is starting to peak but we will continue to closely monitor the data.”
On Thursday, the National Records of Scotland said it had recorded 82 confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in the week to last Sunday.
As of July 17, there have been a total of 15,179 deaths registered in Scotland where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate. Meanwhile, the latest Public Health Scotland statistical report, published on Wednesday, showed that in the week to Sunday, there were on average 1770 patients in hospital with Covid-19.
This was a 6.1 per cent increase from the previous week.
In the week to July 17, there were 21 new admissions to intensive care with a laboratory-confirmed positive test for Covid-19, which was two down on the week before.