One in fifty Scots now believed to have Coronavirus, warns chief medic

Dr Catherine Calderwood says more than 100,000 Scots are believed to have the virus

It means that one in fifty Scots are now expected to be affected by the outbreak, according to scientific modelling

But Dr Catherine Calderwood says she expects that numbers will "peak" in the next two to three weeks as the impact of new hardline lockdown begin to take effect.

Although the number of confirmed cases, through testing, now stands at 1563 north of the border, the medic admitted that the true extent of the virus in the community is likely to be far greater.

Dr Calderwood said last week that 65,000 had contracted COVID19.

"It's more than 100,000 people in Scotland that have this virus by today," the medic told a media conference in Edinburgh this afternoon.

It came as both Nicola Sturgeon and Dr Calderwood admitted that the lockdown restrictions in place at the moment are like’y to last for months.

"We're expecting a peak if the virus in around two to three weeks, so I would be pessimistic that there will be any change to these stringent measures," Dr Calderwood added.

And even when the restrictions are lifted there will be an expected rise in the number of cases and admissions to hospital which could see a fresh lockdown again imposed.

"It's entirely possible that having lifted the measures we would have to place them back down again, perhaps not all of them, perhaps not as stringently,” the chief medic said.

Dr Calderwood had warned yesterday that the lockdown could last 13 weeks but admitted it could be longer, with the Deputy Chief Medical Officer in England warning that measures could last up to six months.

"I would want people in Scotland to be aware that actually this 13 weeks is one figure and it seems a very long time,” Dr Calderwood added.

"But unfortunately, unless we really have got this virus under control, we may not even be able to return to normal even after that."