ALMOST 19,000 Scots could be contracting coronavirus each day, according to the Scottish Government’s latest official estimates.

The latest weekly “Modelling the pandemic” paper put  the number of new infections on October 14 at between 96 and 347 per 100,000 people.

This equates to between 5,200 and 18,900 cases per day, each of whom could then spread it to others.

The previous week, the estimate was between 35 and 176 new infections per 100,000, or between 1,900 and 9,600 people per day, showing a marked increase at the lower end of the estimates.

The R, or rate of transmission, number is currently estimated at between 1.3 and 1.6, meaning the virus is spreading rapidly.

The daily growth rate in infections is between 6 and 9 per cent, and the estimated doubling time for cases in Scotland is between 8 and 10 days.

It said: “The various groups which report to the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M) use different sources of data in their models to produce estimates of incidence. 

“SPI-M’s consensus view across these methods, as of 14 October, was that the incidence of new daily infections in Scotland was between 96 and 347 new infections per 100,000. 

“This equates to between 5,200 and 18,900 people becoming infected each day in Scotland.”

However there was also more positive news, with a drop off in the number of people visiting different locations, particularly each others homes in recent weeks.

This was attributed to the rule of six and restrictions on household meetings having an effect “which it is hoped will feed through to confirmed cases over the next few weeks”.

It said: "There was a significant increase in contacts [between people] when the schools went back (from just below 6 to 8 per day).

"However, the number of contacts has fallen significantly in the last two weeks (down around 19%), and is now slightly lower than the level immediately before the schools returned.

"There has also been a drop off in how many people are visiting different locations, particularly other homes in recent weeks.

"This suggests the rule of six and restrictions on households meeting are having some effect."

On Thursday, Nicola Sturgeon announced another 1,351 people had tested positive in the previous 24 hours, representing 17.6% of those newly tested.

The number of people in hospital rose 31 to 601, and there 13 more deaths from Covid.