Scotland's top 10 Covid hotspots as restrictions ease despite soaring cases

Coronavirus restrictions were eased in Scotland today - despite cases numbers continuing to be high.

Restaurants and pubs no longer have to retain customer details for contact tracing, but face masks will remain as a legal requirement until early April.

It comes as data from the Office for National Statistics showed that in the first week of March an estimated one in 18 people in Scotland had the virus.

Scotland still has some of the highest Covid rates in the UK compared to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The most recent data shows where the worst-affected areas are in Scotland, with 86,799 new positive cases from the week March 12 and 18.

A map of Scotland shows the whole country in deep purple (Public Health Scotland)

That's up from 84,663 new cases last week, according to figures from Public Health Scotland.

According to the latest figures, every council area in Scotland is currently experiencing extremely high seven-day positivity rates.

A map of Scotland shows the whole country in deep purple, meaning all 32 areas have rates of 800+ positive cases per 100,000 of the population - the highest infection level possible.

Coronavirus infection rates in Na h-Eileanan Siar are now among the top 20 highest in the country.

Cases have been continuing to spike in the area for several days - making it the Scotland's current Covid hotspot.

The council area recorded a rate of 2,981.1 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending between March 12 and 18, according to the latest data from Public Health Scotland.

East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire are also experiencing high coronavirus rates.

It comes as so-called 'Stealth Omicron' variant spreads through country, which is now the dominant strain and accounts for 80 per cent of cases in Scotland.

The World Health Organisation has said BA.2 is more transmissible than the original BA.1 Omicron strain, which emerged in Scotland in December. However there is no evidence to suggest it is any more severe.

Scotland's top 10 Covid hotspots

Na h-Eileanan Siar

2,981.1

East Ayrshire

2,245.9

North Ayrshire

2142.3

South Ayrshire

1,939.5

Clackmannanshire

1920.5

Highland

1,919.0

Falkirk

1,916.4

Inverclyde

1898.5

Renfrewshire

1893.6

East Lothian

1878.6

Rest of Scotland

South Lanarkshire

West Dunbartonshire

East Dunbartonshire

North Lanarkshire

Moray

West Lothian

Stirling

Shetland Islands

Argyll and Bute

Midlothian

Angus

East Renfrewshire

Perth and Kinross

Aberdeenshire

Scottish Borders

City of Edinburgh

Fife

Dumfries and Galloway

Glasgow City

Aberdeen City

Dundee City

Orkney Islands