Covid super-strain risks ruining Scots families’ summer holiday plans

SUMMER holiday plans could be disrupted by a super-contagious strain of Covid which originated in America and has contributed to a 30 per cent increase in cases in Scotland.

The new subvariant of Omicron, known as BA.2.12.1, exploded in the states of New York and New Jersey in April and is now one of three which have taken a grip in Scotland.

The UK Health Security Agency has also raised the classification of Omicron BA. and Omicron BA.5 to the status of ‘variants of concern’ because of the growth in case numbers.

Covid cases north of the Border have risen by almost a third in the past week.

Experts say families could face ‘difficult decisions’ about whether to go ahead with their plans for a summer break if they are feeling under the weather.

There were 15,5 1 reported virus cases in the week ending June 19, an increase of nearly a third, but the Public Health Scotland data is not an accurate snapshot as only limited numbers of people are still being tested.

Scientists are concerned that the more reliable Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey results due out tomorrow will confirm that cases have been rising in successive weeks.

Most schools in Scotland break up for the summer holidays next week, and with the rise in infections it is feared that people’s travel plans could be affected by illness.

Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘If people have symptoms, particularly if they have a fever, they shouldn’t even be contemplating getting on a plane.

‘But let’s use the scenario of a family with a long-planned holiday which they’ve not had since the beginning of the pandemic and one of the parents gets ill. They’re not going to want to cancel the holiday for the whole family so these are difficult decisions for people to make.

‘It’s fine for somebody like me to sit here and say this is what you should do but people have to make their own decisions. If it’s spreading in the community then people are still getting it and it’s less than ideal that we’re seeing another spike in infections.’

Figures from the ONS last week showed the number of Scots believed to have Covid increased to one in 30 – up from one in 0 the previous week. In England it is believed one in 50 people had coronavirus in the week ending June 11.

It has been predicted that UK daily infections could pass 200,000 by the weekend for the first time since April.