Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Edinburgh expert says Scotland experiencing new Covid wave as Omicron cases increase

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorPA Media
Published date17 June 2022
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
Professor Linda Bauld , of Edinburgh University, was speaking as the latest figures showed the number of Scots believed to have COVID increased to one in 30 last week - up from one in 40 the previous week

The Office for National Statistics estimates that in the week ending June 11, 176,900 people in Scotland had the virus - about 3.36% of the population.

The estimated COVID rate in Scotland is higher than in England, where it is believed one in 50 people had coronavirus in the week ending June 11, while one in 45 people are estimated to have had the virus in both Wales and Northern Ireland.

Prof Bauld said the Omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5. are part of the reason for the increase in cases and a "small but not significant" rise in the number of people in hospital.

But she stressed vaccines are working well in the vast majority of people and are making a difference between the risk from infection and the risk of severe disease.

Prof Bauld, a professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "I think it's pretty clear to me from some of the data we've seen that we are certainly in another wave of infection, if not already it will be soon and that certainly seems to be the case in a number of countries.

"That is not a big surprise because we did anticipate we would have a rising level of infections every three or four months potentially, that's what international colleagues have said.

"It might be surprising to people though because it's the summer, and they're used to hearing from us (that) the weather is better so people are more outside and therefore we reduce the risks through our behaviour.

"That's true, but what we've got is Omicron and a different type of it, BA.4 and 5 - there's these Omicron sub-lineages which seem to be rising in number in the UK and I think that's part of the explanation why we're beginning to see more cases, and we have seen a small but not significant rise in the number of people in...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT