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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Sian Traynor

Covid Scotland: Only five Edinburgh areas report low cases as numbers hit record highs

Edinburgh has seen a significant surge in coronavirus cases in the last few weeks, with hospitalisations hitting record highs in recent days.

In the last week, only five local neighbourhoods have seen lower case rates, with most in the capital seeing transmission peak above the highest category set by Public Health Scotland.

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The most recent data has shown the City of Edinburgh as reporting over 7,000 new cases in the last week, giving a transmission rate of 800+ cases per 100,000 people.

Just five areas in the city reported smaller infection rates, with the five all seeing around 400-799 cases per 100,000 people.

The best neighbourhood in this time was Canongate, Southside and Dumbiedykes, which reported 58 cases in a seven day period, with a rate of 628 per 100,000.

Liberton East came next with a rate of 763.3 per 100,000, followed by Mortonhall and Alnwickhill with a rate of 768.9 per 100,000.

Gorgie East also had a lower rate of 775.2 per 100,000, and Abbeyhill showed similar numbers, with a rate of 786.9 per 100,000.

On the opposite end of the scale, the worst reported coronavirus hotspot in Edinburgh was Trinity East and the Dudley's, with a case rate of 2,370 per 100,000.

The high rates come as Scotland is at risk of a "tsunami of long Covid cases" due to "inaction" from the Scottish Government, Scottish Labour has said.

The number of people in hospital with coronavirus reached record levels for five consecutive days this week, with around 2,300 patients recorded each day.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released separate figures showing the proportion of people with the virus had increased in Scotland in the week ending March 20.

It estimated that 473,800 people were infected then with this equating to about one in 11 people.

As of end January this year, 119,000 Scots have reportedly have claimed to have long Covid.

Scottish Labour said government modelling suggests that as many as 2.9% of people with Covid in Scotland are projected to get long Covid for 12 weeks or more after their first suspected infection.

The party's health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: "With Covid cases still very high in Scotland, the potential for a tsunami of long Covid cases is a very worrying prospect."

She said the Scottish Government has "entirely failed" to allocate funding from its £10 million Long Covid Support Fund announced back in September 2021.

The deputy Labour leader warned with 90 specialist long Covid clinics in England "clearly defined" clinical support for the condition in Wales, Scots are being "left behind."

She added: "The threat that long Covid poses to our public health and to the functioning of our economy cannot be overstated."

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