Scottish Covid cases hit record levels over Christmas

Scottish Covid cases hit record numbers over the Christmas weekend.

The daily case figures recorded over the 25, 26 and 27 December were the highest totals seen throughout the entire pandemic.

Christmas Day saw 8,252 cases confirmed. Boxing Day registered 11,030 cases and Monday's total was 10,562.

The Scottish government warned that due to a lag in reporting results, the actual number of Covid cases each day may be higher.

It said the daily figures published related to test results reported that day, with the majority of the tests taken before the Christmas break.

Scotland's national clinical director, Prof Jason Leitch, told the BBC we were now seeing the "predictable rise" of the Omicron variant.

He said: "It appeared on 27 November. We had 2,332 cases that day, and now we have over 10,000 a day.

"That's a four-fold increase in three weeks. That's exactly what we predicted would happen. Omicron is now 85% of the cases in Scotland unfortunately."

But he said "we are not powerless", and urged people to "get boosted by the bells" and follow the rules.