A leading public health expert has predicted the UK "will see an autumn surge" as we head into winter.

Professor Devi Sridhar, who has been advising the Scottish Government throughout the pandemic, said she believes the surge is "inevitable", and that "children will be a part of it".

"I think it's inevitable that we will see an autumn surge, because the challenge now with Delta is that even if you're fully vaccinated, you can still contract Covid-19 and give it to others," Professor Sridhar told Channel 4 News.

"What we're likely to see is more people contracting the virus as we have more mixing and more indoor activities, but hopefully less serious illness and death that would weaken that link between cases and deaths.

READ MORE: Here are Scotland's hotspots as cases reach six-week high

"So I think the autumn surge is inevitable, and we will see children being part of that given they are the largest group who don't have any antiboy protection against this virus."

Scotland has today recorded its fifth day of Covid case totals of more than 3,000, and today's test positivity rate of 12.4% is the largest since July 5.

Professor Sridhar said she believes the UK is doing well with the vaccination programme, however there are still concerns from reports in areas like Israel where vaccines are said to be losing effectiveness.

"What we have to see is actually what the wave looks like," she continued. "The cases have gone up quite a lot, and the hospitalisations have stayed much lower than they have in the previous wave.

"So what we are seeing is a definite weakening.

"But what I think is a bit worrying though is when we look at Israel, which has been ahead of us, their hospitalisations are starting to track along cases, which they think reflects waning immunity from the vaccines, and that's what we want to avoid. But right now, I actually think we're doing decently well with the vaccines."

On Saturday, The Herald's health correspondent gave her analysis on the situation in Scotland, where cases are on the rise again.

Helen McArdle wrote: "Between July 17 and August 13, there were 565 Covid hospital admissions in Scotland in people who were fully vaccinated.

"If rates of influenza and other respiratory viruses (which are all currently at low or baseline levels for summer) spike, it wouldn’t take much for the NHS to lurch from pressure cooker to boiling point.

"We might have been in a better position were it not for the Delta variant."