Glasgow has the highest weekly rate of new coronavirus cases in Scotland amid an uptick of positive tests mainly in the central belt.
The increase is particularly apparent among people aged between 25 and 44, chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said.
Across Scotland, there were 4,074 coronavirus cases in the past seven days, compared to 3,601 for the previous seven-day period.
Before this, cases had generally been declining since January.
Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, Dr Smith said the return of some pupils to schools may be part of the reason behind the latest uptick, as parents begin to meet up with other adults again.
READ MORE: Scotland reaches two million first doses milestone
A lower prevalence of Covid antibodies in Scotland compared to other parts of the UK has also been suggested – owing to the lower case numbers north of the border last year.
Dr Gregor Smith
Discussing the increase in cases, Dr Smith said: “In the areas of Scotland, it tends to be the central belt.
“It’s Ayrshire and Arran, it’s Lanarkshire, it’s particularly Glasgow just now.
“We’ve seen that Glasgow city as a local authority is probably showing the highest seven-day cumulative incidence of any local authority in Scotland.”
Dr Smith was also asked about cases linked to celebrations by Rangers fans in Glasgow earlier this month following the club’s league win.
READ MORE: Scotland's testing capacity to be expanded
He said a “small number of people” had been very honest about their participation in the celebrations, adding he was “very grateful” for their honesty.
He went on to urge anyone with symptoms to come forward for a test and provide contact tracers with as much information as possible.
Rangers fans have been linked to a small number of fresh cases
Also speaking at the briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said: “Taking it all together, the case numbers over the last week are a hard reminder that the virus hasn’t magically disappeared.
“If we let it spread it will spread.
“We don’t yet have that critical mass of the population vaccinated to start really bearing down on transmission.”
If people begin to loosen their adherence to the rules, she said, the “hopeful” path out of lockdown set out on Tuesday would become more doubtful.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel