Covid Scotland: Over 16,000 cases and five deaths reported in past 24 hours as Nicola Sturgeon expects total daily figures to pass one million

Over 16,00 cases and five deaths were reported in the past 24 hours across Scotland as the First Minister announced that near future figures will ‘almost certainly see us past one million cases reported since the start of the pandemic.’

A total of 16,103 positive cases were reported yesterday – that is 26.9% of all tests carried out.

There are 1,223 people in hospital with Covid – 71 more than yesterday - and 544 more than at this time last week.

A total of 42 people are in intensive care - the same as yesterday.

Sadly, a further 5 deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths under the daily definition to 9,872.

During her update at parliament on Wednesday, the First Minister said: “The surge of cases, driven by the extremely infectious Omicron variant, is continuing here in Scotland, across the UK, and in many other countries around the world.

"Over the last week, the total number of new reported cases has increased by 87%.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon updates parliament on the latest coronavirus figures across Scotland (Photo: John Devlin).

"Tomorrow’s figures will almost certainly see us pass 1 million reported cases since the start of the pandemic.

"However, the rapid and widespread transmission of Omicron is such that the daily recorded tally of cases - which has always been an underestimate of the true level of infection - now gives us an even less comprehensive indicator of how prevalent the virus is.”

The weekly survey published by the Office of National Statistics suggested that in the week to December 23, 1 in 40 people in Scotland had Covid.

The results of the most recent ONS survey suggest that in the week to December 31 that had risen to 1 in 20.

Nicola Sturgeon added: “The proportion of people with Covid is likely to be even higher than that now, a few days later - and I would anticipate that we will see continued growth in the level of infection as work and school resume after the holiday period.

"In short, Covid is significantly more widespread now than at any stage in the pandemic so far, and will almost certainly become even more so in days to come."

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