Coronavirus could continue to put “huge pressure” on Scotland's health service, Nicola Sturgeon has warned after the country recorded the highest ever daily total of new cases and the most deaths since April.
Wednesday’s figures show 2,969 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours – higher than the 2,649 cases in one day at the height of the winter peak.
The test positivity rate is 7.3 per cent, with a record 42,310 tests taking place.
This is down from 9.1 per cent the previous day but still above the 5 per cent World Health Organisation figure that suggests a pandemic is under control.
🧵 THREAD
1/ Another big increase in Covid cases in 🏴 today.
First, some context: a record number of tests were done yesterday, and % positive is down a bit.
BUT…if we want to get to end of restrictions on 9 August safely, we should take this increase seriously.
Why? / https://t.co/kxKhOZRfIsAdvertisement— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 23, 2021
Five deaths were also recorded in the last 24 hours, the highest daily total since April.
Writing on Twitter, Scotland’s First Minister said if Covid-19 restrictions are to end on August 9th as planned, “we should take this increase seriously”.
She stressed that vaccines are breaking the link between illness and death and “around 5% of cases are admitted to hospital now”.
But she cautioned that “5% of a large number of cases will still put huge pressure on NHS and cause suffering and loss”.
She added: “We are much more confident about the medium term (ie from 9 Aug), due to vaccines, but what we do in short term will determine how safely we get there.
“So – even tho we’re all fed up & frustrated if we see others breaking rules – its still important to take this seriously.”
A total of 171 people were in hospital on Tuesday with recently confirmed Covid-19 – down one in 24 hours – and 18 people were in intensive care, no change.
While the intensive care figure is the highest since April, it is well below the triple-figure peaks in the winter.
Separate figures also released on Wednesday by National Records of Scotland show weekly Covid deaths in Scotland have hit the highest number in almost two months.
A total of 13 fatalities were recorded in the week of June 14th-20th.
This is up six on the previous week and is the first time the total has hit double figures since the seven days from April 26th, when there were 19 deaths.
The coronavirus death toll in Scotland since the start of the pandemic now stands at 10,150.
