THE number of Scots with Covid-19 has increased for the seventh week in a row, latest statistics have revealed.
One in 15 people north of the Border were estimated to have the virus in the week ending July 14, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday, around 6.48% of Scotland’s population.
This means around 340,900 people in Scotland had the virus, according to the infection survey.
It is a slight increase on the estimated 334,000 people who had the virus in the week to July 7, with Scotland having the highest proportion of people infected of all UK nations.
But the ONS said there is an uncertain trend in Scotland, whereas south of the border Covid is on the rise.
In England and Wales, the ONS estimated one in 17 people had Covid-19 in the week ending July 13, while in Northern Ireland it was one in 20.
Kara Steel, senior statistician for the ONS Covid-19 infection survey, said: “It is too early to say if this most recent wave is starting to peak, but we will continue to closely monitor the data.”
On Thursday, the National Records of Scotland said it had recorded 82 confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths in the week to last Sunday.
As of July 17, there have been a total of 15,179 deaths registered in Scotland where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.
Meanwhile, the latest Public Health Scotland statistical report, published on Wednesday, showed that in the week to Sunday, there were on average 1770 patients in hospital with Covid-19.
This was a 6.1% increase from the previous week.
In the week to July 17, there were 21 new admissions to intensive care with a laboratory-confirmed positive test for Covid-19, which was two down on the week before.
