The number of patients in Scottish hospitals with coronavirus has risen by 15 per cent in a week, despite a fall in cases, new figures show. While the latest data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows a drop in overall cases for the second week in a row, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 increased to 1,669.
The latest PHS data for the week ending July 10, show that across Scotland reported cases of coronavirus fell by almost 10 per cent. Figures also show 16,521 cases of coronavirus were reported that week - a drop of 9.5 per cent from the previous week.
While the amount of patients with coronavirus in hospital grew, the number of total cases in Scotland fell. New hospital admissions decreased from 1,170 in the week ending July 3 to 990 in the week ending July 10 - a drop of 15.4 per cent.
It is the second week in a row that the total number of reported Covid cases in Scotland has fallen - with 19,063 cases reported in the week ending June 26, falling to 18,248 in the week ending July 3. Of those cases reported in the week ending July 10, a fifth (20.5 per cent) were reinfections.
The number of patients in hospital with the virus is well below the peak of 2,383 which was recorded on two dates in March and April this year.
The news comes as Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 continue to sweep through Scotland and the rest of the UK. Experts predict BA.5 will overtake as the dominant Covid-19 strain.
The latest Covid information ongov.uk read: “UKHSA’s latest analysis suggests that Omicron BA.5 is growing 35.1 per cent faster than Omicron BA.2, while Omicron BA.4 is growing approximately 19.1% faster.
“This suggests that BA.5 is likely to become the dominant Covid-19 variant in the UK. The increasing prevalence of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 is likely to be a factor in the recent increase in cases seen in the UK and elsewhere, though there is currently no evidence that Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 cause more severe illness than previous variants.”
