Covid cases creeping up in Scotland

Covid-19 infections are on the rise in Scotland, despite numbers falling in most other parts of the UK. A total of 1.1 million people in private households across the UK are estimated to have had the virus in the week to May 21, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is down from 1.3m the previous week and is the lowest estimate for the whole of the UK since the end of November 2021, when virus levels were just starting to rise due to the spread of the original Omicron variant.

Total infections have now fallen by 78% since the peak of the recent Omicron BA.2 wave in late March, when a record 4.9m were estimated to have Covid-19.

Levels are not dropping in all four nations, however.

In England, infections have fallen for the seventh week in a row, with 874,400 people likely to test positive, the equivalent of around one in 60. This is down week on week from 1m, or one in 55.

In Scotland, prevalence of the virus has increased, with 135,400 people estimated to have Covid-19 last week, or one in 40 – up from 122,200, or one in 45.

Wales has seen infections drop for the sixth week in a row, with 52,900 people likely to have Covid-19, or one in 55, down from 80,700, or one in 40.

The virus continues to be least prevalent in Northern Ireland, where infections

are now at their lowest level since mid-October 2021.

Some 23,300 people were estimated to have Covid-19 here last week, or one in 80, down from 29,800, or one in 60.

The figures come ahead of the lifting on May 30 of the last remaining Covid restrictions anywhere in the UK, when the legal

requirement to wear a face covering in health and care settings in Wales comes to an end.

First minister of Wales Mark Drakeford said people can look forward to a “brighter future”, though he urged the public to keep taking steps to protect themselves, such as selfisolating if they have Covid symptoms and always

staying up-to-date with their vaccinations.

Separate figures show the number of people in hospital with Covid-19, another measure of prevalence, is continuing to fall, with Wales and Scotland at their lowest since December, while in England and Northern Ireland they are at their lowest since last July.

ON THE RISE: The Covid-19 infection rate is going up in Scotland and is now one in 40.