Scotland is heading towards another wave of coronavirus infections due to a rise in cases over the last couple of weeks, according to a health expert.
John Harden, the Scottish Government 's deputy national clinical director, urged the elderly and over 12s to come forward for vaccines in order to prevent illness as a result of the spread in cases.
The latest Office for National Statistics data show that one in 30 Scots have covid, which is up from one in 40 on the previous week.
It comes as Professor Linda Bauld, a professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said the country is currently in another wave.
Harden was asked by BBC Good Morning Scotland host Laura Maxwell if Scotland was in a wave, he replied: "I don't think it feels like it just yet. I think we may well be heading in that direction.
"The difficulty with waves is you only know you're in a wave once you're in it, and it's quite obvious.
"At the moment we've got a bit of an increase in cases which we are tracking very closely. I would suggest that time will tell if we're in a wave when we look back so it's very hard to say for certain.
"The case rate is nowhere near what it has been in previous waves. The overall admission numbers are way lower than they were at the peak of the pandemic but there is a general fluctuation in the numbers.
"A little bit of an increase just now but nowhere near what it was previously. It is something we're keeping a close eye on."
Harden also urged people to come forward for booster jabs with over 75s being targeted to top up their defence against the deadly virus.
He said: "We really need people to get their boosters as much as possible. I think that the fact cases are going up, Omicron is not finished with us yet, the virus hasn't finished with us yet.
"So, I would strongly encourage people to get their booster vaccination sorted. So the main groups are the over 75s and over 12s."
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