The number of Covid patients in intensive care at Ninewells Hospital has reached its highest point since February.
There are now six coronavirus patients in ICU, the most since February 16.
This is the first time any Tayside patients have been recorded as being treated in ICU since five people were recorded as being treated for Covid on February 16.
When there are fewer than five ICU patients, the exact number is not recorded.
But NHS Tayside confirmed there are 10 patients between the coronavirus intensive care and high dependency wards.
On Tuesday, there were 44 people being treated in hospital with Covid in Tayside, down from 53 on Sunday.
This comes after NHS Tayside urged the public to help ease pressures on health services.
A spokeswoman for the health board said: “Our Covid-19 wards in Ninewells remain busy and there are now 44 patients with Covid in the hospital.
“This includes 10 patients in our Covid-19 intensive care and high dependency units.
“At the moment there remains three Covid-19 wards in Ninewells.
“Our clinical teams are continuously monitoring the number of cases in order that they are ready to respond to any increasing hospital admissions.”
Vaccinations in Tayside this week
The health board is urging anyone in Tayside over the age of 18 to get their first vaccine or anyone who is at eight weeks since their first jab to get their second from the following drop-in centres:
Dundee
- Caird Hall, Monday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm
- Open Heavens Christian Centre, Tuesday from 1pm to 7pm
Perth and Kinross
- Dewar’s Centre, Perth, Monday to Sunday from 10am until 6pm
- Atholl Leisure Centre, Pitlochry, Monday to Tuesday from 11am until 5.30pm
- Blairgowrie Town Hall, Friday to Sunday from 11am until 5pm
Angus
- Reid Hall, Forfar, Monday to Sunday from 10am until 6pm
- Arbroath Community Centre, Monday to Sunday from 10am until 6pm
- Montrose Town Hall, Monday to Sunday from 10am until 6pm
- Stracathro Hospital Outpatient Department, Saturday to Sunday from 10am until 6pm
The spokeswoman added: “Our message to the people of Tayside remains the same – please get vaccinated, get tested and stick to the rules to keep the number of new infections down.”
Overall in Scotland there were 346 people in hospital with Covid on Tuesday and 32 patients in ICU.
Six people died from coronavirus in Scotland, with no deaths recorded in Tayside or Fife.
In Angus there were 65 new cases recorded on Tuesday while Perth and Kinross recorded 74.
Dundee infections continue to fall
Dundee still has the highest Covid case rates in the UK, however that number is continuing to go down.
The city had 876.6 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days , as of Tuesday.
This is in comparison to 906.1 on Monday and a peak of 953 on Saturday, when Covid rates in Dundee were at the highest they have ever been.
On Tuesday, the city recorded 110 new cases, compared to 136 on Monday and 222 on Friday.
Across Scotland
Scotland still has the highest Covid rates in Europe, however the number of daily new cases across the country is also continuing to decline.
As a whole, Scotland recorded 2,363 new daily cases on Tuesday, compared to Thursday where the country saw a record number of 4,234 new cases.
Fife
NHS Fife are preparing extra Covid wards amid a spike in cases after the region recorded 189 new cases on Tuesday.
Fife’s seven day case-rate per 100,000 sat at 454.5 on Tuesday, with 18 people in hospital being treated for coronavirus, up from 5 last Tuesday.