Covid infections hit record high and hospitalisations reach 13-month peak

Estimated Covid infections in Scotland are at the highest level since records began, as hospitalisations with the virus reached a 13-month high and a health board admitted all three of its hospitals are overcrowded.

Around one in 18 people had Covid in Scotland in the week to March 5, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Hospitalisations with the virus continued to rise yesterday to 1,663 – a 13-month high.

And NHS Lanarkshire warned its acute hospitals are all full beyond maximum capacity, with patients facing waits of over ten hours at accident and emergency (A&E) departments.

It comes just four days before Nicola Sturgeon is set to confirm whether the planned easing of all legal restrictions in Scotland can go ahead on March 21.

Professor Rowland Kao, chair of veterinary epidemiology and data science at Edinburgh University, said the situation was uncertain due to several recent changes in guidance and data gathering, and it was not possible to say if it would improve in the coming weeks.

There is not yet a cause for “massive concern”, he said, but added: “It’s hard to know how far it’ll keep going up. It’s very hard to tell with the current mix of data that we’ve got… If hospital numbers continue to go up, there is some threshold, which I’m not aware of what it is, where [the Scottish Government] will say ‘OK, we can’t actually push ahead [with the easing of restrictions]’.”

The ONS estimated 5.7 per cent of the population had Covid in the week to March 5, marginally higher than the 5.65 per cent recorded in the week to January 4 at the peak of the Omicron wave.

Case numbers may be higher than reported in the Scottish Government’s daily figures, Prof Kao said, due to the dominance of the Omicron subvariant BA.2, which may cause milder symptoms, leading to more people carrying and transmitting the disease without realising.

The increase in cases may be due to a combination of the BA.2 variant, restrictions easing and waning immunity in older people who had their booster vaccine in early autumn, he said.

Meanwhile NHS Lanarkshire said hospitals have “regularly” reached over 100 per cent capacity in recent weeks, as they struggle to cope with “relentless” pressure.

The current crisis has been caused by increased numbers of Covid patients, staff self-isolating, and continued staffing shortages, said NHS Lanarkshire deputy director of acute services Russell Coulthard.

A spokesperson said the Scottish Government was “closely monitoring” the situation in NHS Lanarkshire, while the final easing of all legal restrictions remained “under continuous review”.

They said: “We are seeing an increase in cases in Scotland due to the dominance of the more transmissible Omicron BA.2 variant and, inevitably as people mix more, the virus transmits more.

“Covid-19 has not gone away. People should remain vigilant and careful, particularly around people who are more vulnerable. Vaccination is still bethebestwaytoprotectyourself against severe disease.”