‘Undoubtedly a concern’: Scotland records 160 new Covid cases

It is the highest daily figure since May 16 and an increase on the 123 announced on Sunday.

Scotland has recorded 160 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

It is the highest daily figure since May 16’s 187.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the increase from Sunday’s total of 123 was “undoubtedly a concern to us”.

At the Scottish Government’s daily briefing on Monday, she said: “But it still represents less than 1% – 0.9% to be precise – of the people who were newly tested yesterday and it takes the total number of cases now to 20,478.”

The First Minister also confirmed there has been no further deaths linked to Covid-19.

The official death toll in Scotland stands at 2494, however weekly figures on suspected Covid-19 deaths suggest the most up-to-date total is now 4224.

Four of the new cases are in the Grampian health board area, 69 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 27 in Lanarkshire, 14 in Tayside, 18 in Lothian, nine in Forth Valley and eight in Ayrshire and Arran.

The remaining 11 are spread out across four different health boards.

Speaking about the low number of new cases in the Grampian area, Sturgeon said it was a “further indication that the Aberdeen pub cluster has been contained”.

She added: “And my thanks to everyone there in our Test and Protect teams and the local Incident Management Team for all the hard work that they have done.”

Sturgeon said the rise of cases in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area reflected a number of small clusters, rather than one or two more “significant outbreaks”.

An Incident Management Team (IMT) is looking at a cluster of 22 cases in Ayrshire and Arran.

Sturgeon said: “Many of these Ayrshire and Arran cases seem to be linked to indoor gatherings that took place the previous weekend.”

A cluster in Hawick in the Borders has increased to 15 people, with a mobile testing unit in the town on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

There are 258 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, an increase of seven in 24 hours. Of these patients, five are in intensive care, no change from the previous day.

Sturgeon said Scotland was in a “very fragile situation”, adding that transmission of Covid-19 was increasing again.

She warned: “We can keep it under control if we all do the right things to help Test and Protect do its work.”

“But it would not take much right now for this virus to get a grip of us again.”

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