Scots under 15s may not be contracting Coronavirus says chief medic

Scots youngsters under the age of 15 may not be contracting Coronaviris at all, the Chief Medical Officer has said.

Catherine Calderwood says the rise in cases is accelerating across most Scots age groups

Dr Catherine Calderwood said that other age groups in Scotland are seeing an accelerating rise as she addressed the Scottish Government's daily Coronavirus update in Edinburgh today. A further 430 people tested positive today, taking the total to 1,993.

"The only group of people that we're not seeing sustained transmission in is people under the age of 15," Dr Calderwood said.

"This is in common with other countries around the world where we think that children and younger people are not either seriously affected by the virus of perhaps don't get it at all.”

This tallies with evidence from around the globe, although it is not clear whether youngsters get the virus and don't develop symptoms or have some form of immunity.

Although the number of tests in Scotland is rising, Dr Calderwood insisted this alone does not account for the major hike in positive cases.

"The proportion of those tests which are positive is increasing day by day.

“This shows us that within Scotland at the moment, despite how well people are complying with the measures, despite the stringency of those measures we've put on the population and asked them to restrict their behaviours, our numbers of cases every day in Scotland continue to increase.

She added: “Despite what we're doing the virus is still being transmitted in our communities."

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