Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Over 7,800 new Covid cases as Scots told Omicron wave is decelerating

Covid Scotland
The number of people in hospital with Covid fell by four

Over 7,800 new cases of Covid have been reported in Scotland today, with experts saying the latest data shows the Omicron wave is “decelerating”.

New Scottish Government figures show 7,833 new positive tests on Saturday, down from over 9,900 on Friday.

The daily increase in new cases has continued to fall after a record high of over 20,000 new infections were recorded on January 3.

The latest public health figures also show 21 new deaths as a result of coronavirus, taking the death toll among people who tested positive to 10,059.

As of Friday, 1,540 people who tested positive are currently in hospital, down four on Friday’s figure.

Number of Covid patients in hospital falls by four

Meanwhile, 46 patients are receiving treatment in intensive care units across Scotland.

Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, said that the slow down in daily infections was “positive news” but she warned that the country was not yet “out of the woods”.

Ms Evans also pointed out that hospitalisations as a result of the record high infection rates over Christmas were still likely over the next two weeks.

“The issue for us right now of course is with high infection rates right up to that Christmas period and into New Year we will see the effect of that in hospitals across Scotland, so the baked-in cases we have got we expect to see for the next week or two weeks.

Covid Scotland antibody tests
The new cases include PCR and lateral flow tests

“So that means we’re still under pressure in health and social care systems but it gives us cause for optimism.”

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said the Omicron wave in Scotland was decelerating, but national clinical director Jason Leitch cautioned that it was unlikely to be the last new strain Scotland.

Speaking to STV, Professor Leitch said: “We’ve had four variants, and they’ve got progressively worse, and this one has got slightly better.

“Omicron didn’t come from Delta and Delta didn’t come from Alpha. That’s not how it works. They all come from the beginning.

Covid Scotland Jason Leitch
Jason Leitch said it was likely there would be further variants of the virus

“So you could get a more mild one, and that would help us and you would end up having fewer people in hospital, but you could get a more severe one. So we have to be ready for all of those eventualities.

“This is not the last variant, there will be another one. So governments all over the world, including ours, have to be ready and businesses have to be ready.”