Scottish Covid rate increases for seventh week with one in 15 people thought to have contracted virus

The number of Scots who have Covid-19 has continued to increase for the seventh week in a row, the latest statistics have shown.

In the week ending July 14, one in 15 people in Scotland were estimated to have the virus as the BA.4 and BA.5 strains surge.

It means that around 6.48% of the population have contracted Covid in the last week, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

It equates to around 340,900 Scots according to the infection survey.

The new figures show 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.

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 1,770 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.