Covid - the numbers

THE NUMBER of cases recently exceeded all previous records with a high of 7,113 cases in Scotland on 29 August. On that date the number of cases reported in Lothian was 1,110, but an even higher figure of 1,129 cases was reached on 12 September. The Scottish Government says the variant of concern is now Delta - more transmissible than the Alpha variant. But the government also said that vaccines “still offer good protection against new infections”.

The reproduction or R number (the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person) was below 1 between January and the middle of May, and again for a period between 9 June and 21 July, but it then crept up to around 1.3 at the end of August.

The number of PCR tests conducted in the past 19 months or so has now exceeded 10 million at the three regional hubs set up around Scotland including one at Lauriston Place in Edinburgh. These also include the four nations network of Lighthouse labs, partner laboratories and testing sites. And the Scottish Ambulance service has conducted more than one million tests at mobile testing units.