Nicola Sturgeon has cautioned Scots to help “slow the virus down” after the country recorded the highest number of daily cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The Scottish Government reported 3285 new cases of coronavirus on Monday. The previous record high number in daily cases was 2999, recorded on Friday.
The First Minister said the “steep rise in Covid cases” came as Scotland faced the “faster transmitting Delta strain of the virus”.
She said that the vaccine rollout was providing “significant protection” with fewer people in hospital or falling seriously ill with the virus.
But, she said, it was important for Scotland to avoid complacency.
She said: “There are still many people who don’t yet have both doses of the vaccine. We’re going as fast as we can – but we still have a significant proportion of the population that is not fully vaccinated.
“If we are to avoid the virus running ahead of the vaccine, it’s really important that all of us take care and be cautious.”
On Monday, no further deaths were reported, but 202 people were in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19, and 20 patients were in intensive care.
A potential delay in labs processing coronavirus samples means cases reported on Friday were lower by around 1000 cases.
The Scottish Government said Public Health Scotland was investigating what happened to the processing of specimens in the Lighthouse labs, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
The First Minister said: “I’m asking everybody across Scotland at this crucial time as we look ahead, hopefully to the finishing line, to do all of the things that help slow the virus down.
“Let’s all keep working together to slow the virus down while we allow the vaccination programme to get ahead, that will get us safely to the endpoint if we all pull together for this next period.”
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