Covid in Scotland: Cases hit highest daily total since August

The number of new Covid cases in Scotland has hit its highest daily tally since August.

There were 7,076 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, according to Scottish government figures.

Separate data also shows the number of people with the Omicron variant has more than doubled - with a further 3,832 confirmed cases.

The Scottish government said the increase was partly due to labs working through a backlog of tests.

The cumulative total of Omicron cases in Scotland now stands at 6,154, according to official data.

The number of people in hospital confirmed to have the new strain has also almost doubled, from 24 on Thursday to 42 on Friday.

Public Health Scotland said that the delay in turnaround times from specimens being taken and results reported was because of the high number of tests being processed by labs.

Earlier this month First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned of a "tsunami" of cases of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

Guidance has since been issued about household mixing and restrictions on large events are due to come into force on Boxing Day.

A number of scientific reports have suggested that people catching Omicron are less likely to need hospital care than those with previous variants.

But experts warn that the variant could still lead to large numbers of people in hospital.

In total, there were 7,076 new cases of Covid reported in Scotland on Friday. The previous biggest daily increase was on 29 August when 7,113 cases were logged.

Total confirmed cases of the Omicron variant reached 3,832 - up from 2,326 on Thursday.

Ten more Covid deaths were also recorded and the daily positivity rate stood at 14.6%, up from 12.7% on Thursday.

The latest infection survey from the Office for National Statistics estimates that one in 65 people in Scotland had Covid in the week up to 19 December.

Meanwhile ministers are reminding people that Covid testing services will remain available in Scotland every day through the holiday period.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf urged people to use them if they think they might have Covid.

He said: "Testing has been at the heart of our response to this pandemic and anyone who has symptoms or is notified as a close contact by Test and Protect should isolate immediately and book a PCR test.

"The emergence of the Omicron variant means it is more vital than ever that we use every tool at our disposal to identify Covid cases quickly and break off chains of transmission.

"We are urging everyone to stay at home as much as possible over the coming weeks and reduce their mixing with other households."

Vaccination centres will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, reopening on Monday.

So far 4,378,172 people have received their first dose of a Covid vaccination, 4,006,076 have received their second dose, and 2,841,703 have received a third dose or booster.