Covid Scotland: 31 deaths and 7,752 cases reported in latest Scottish Government figures

A further 31 deaths and 7,752 cases of Covid have been reported across Scotland, according to the latest Scottish Government figures.

In her update to parliament on Tuesday, Nicola Sturgeon announced that 7,752 positive cases were reported yesterday through PCR and lateral flow tests.

Reporting of the figures now includes cases identified using either a first LFD (Lateral Flow Device) or PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) positive test.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of last week, 36,526 new positive cases were recorded through PCR and lateral flow tests.

Sadly, a further 31 deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths under the daily definition to 10,093.

Currently, 1,546 people are in hospital with Covid – 21 fewer than yesterday.

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A total of 59 people are in intensive care – including 17 who have been in ICU for more than 28 days – which is 1 more than yesterday.

The latest Covid figures in Scotland on Tuesday, January 18 (Photo: John Devlin).

In the vaccination programme in Scotland, 4,401,034 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination and 4,090,242 have received their second.

During her update, Ms Sturgeon commented: “Omicron is continuing to infect large numbers of people here in Scotland, across the UK, and in many other countries around the world.

"Hospital admissions and overall hospital occupancy associated with Covid also remain high.

"However, notwithstanding the very real challenges Covid continues to cause, the evidence I set out last week suggesting that the situation was beginning to improve, has significantly strengthened in the past 7 days.”

Looking at PCR tests alone, cases have fallen from an average of almost 13,000 a day to just over 4,600 – a decline of 64% with cases falling across all age groups.

The First Minister added: “The most recent Office of National Statistics data - which covers the week to 7 January and so has a time lag associated with it - reinforces this more stable and positive assessment.

"It indicated that the number of people with Covid in that week, around 1 in 20, was broadly the same as in the previous week.

“Taking all of this into account allows us to say with some confidence that the rise in cases driven by Omicron peaked in the first week of January and that we are now on the downward slope of this wave of cases.”

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