Covid in Scotland: hospital numbers at new record high

The number of people being treated in Scotland's hospitals for coronavirus has reached another record daily high.

Latest Scottish government figures show a total of 1,596 people are in hospital with recently confirmed Covid.

This is up from Friday's figure of 1,530 patients.

The deaths of a further 93 people who had tested positive for the virus have been recorded in the past 24 hours, the same tally as Friday which was the highest daily figure of the pandemic.

It is the second day in a row there has been a record figure for Covid hospital patients.

Of the 1,596 people in hospital, a total of 109 are in intensive care, up seven on Friday's figure.

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National clinical director Prof Jason Leitch said Scotland's hospitals were "very busy and fragile" but coping so far.

He said: "People should not be worried we have reached capacity but the best way of getting those numbers down is to reduce the prevalence of the virus."

Prof Leitch said the NHS could create more intensive care capacity if needed but "all of that has a cost in what we won't be able to do" elsewhere in the health service.

The NHS Louisa Jordan temporary hospital in Glasgow can be used to care for the sickest of Covid patients if the spike in admissions continues, but officials are trying to avoid this "if we can manage without it", Prof Leitch added.

This is because it is better for patients and staff for Covid patients to be in traditional intensive care units, he explained.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has described the latest Covid figures as "a big concern".

On Twitter, she said: "Covid case numbers still a big concern and putting huge pressure on the NHS, as hospital and ICU cases increase.

"Also, 93 further deaths remind us just how dangerous the virus can be - my thoughts are with all those grieving."]

The Scottish government data shows a further 1,865 new cases of Covid have been reported in the last 24 hours, down from the 2,309 cases reported on Friday.

However, the daily test positivity rate is 8.7%, up from 8.1% on the previous day.

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