Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to continue with “sensible precautions” against Covid-19, with the number of hospital patients infected with coronavirus at a 13-month high.
The first minister tweeted a plea for people to keep wearing face masks, warning that “Covid hasn’t gone away”.
There were 1,663 people in hospital on Thursday with recently confirmed Covid-19, an increase of 27 on the previous day, with 23 people in intensive care, an increase of one, Scottish Government figures published on Friday showed.
That is higher than the Omicron peak of 1,571 which was recorded in January this year, with more patients in hospital than at any time since February 8 2021, when the total was 1,672.
Scotland has recorded 13,220 new cases in the past 24 hours, though this was down from 14,387 the previous day, which was the highest number of infections since early January.
Regional Breakdown
NHS Grampian is now recording the fifth highest number of new cases in Scotland with 1,305.
Of these, Aberdeen recorded 422, Aberdeenshire 663 and Moray reported 220, all a decrease from yesterday’s number of cases.
NHS Highland has also decreased in cases reporting 881 today.
Many island communities have had increased pressure on their services due to rising numbers of people infected with the virus. Orkney Island Council said many of their schools, nurseries and health care services were suffering earlier this week.
Today’s data has shown a decrease in cases numbers in Orkney where 33 were reported. NHS Shetland recorded 48 and the Western Isles 89.
Fewer people in hospital
Despite rising cases, the number of people requiring treatment in hospital due to the virus appear to be much lower than previous peaks.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, warned people earlier this week that the pandemic is not yet over.
She said: “The increasing presence of the BA.2 sub-lineage of Omicron and the recent slight increase in infections in those over 55 show that the pandemic is not over and that we can expect to see Covid circulating at high levels.
“Vaccination remains the best way to protect us all from severe disease and hospitalisation due to Covid-19 infection.”
Vaccination Rollout
The Scottish Government’s latest data shows that 4,439,695 have had the first dose of a Covid vaccination.
4,166,614 have received their second dose and 3,461,076 are deemed fully vaccinated having had a booster or third Covid vaccination.
