The number of COVID-19 infections in Scotland rose slightly last week, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS COVID-19 infection survey estimates there were about 104,400 people infected on any given day in the week up to 28 August – that’s about one in 50 people.
There were 30 COVID-19 deaths in the same week, which is lower than the previous week.
A total of 15,622 people in Scotland have died with COVID-19 since the outbreak began in March 2020.
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The ONS has been carrying out a COVID-19 infection survey of randomly selected households in Scotland since September 2020.
Now mass testing has ended, it has become the best estimate of the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in Scotland.
The pandemic has created a huge load on Scotland’s hospitals.
At the peak of the outbreak in spring 2020, there were more than 1,500 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with more than 200 being treated in intensive care.
Numbers reduced over the summer of 2020, but started to rise steadily again in the autumn. In January 2021, the number of patients with COVID-19 in hospital went above 2,000.
During the Omicron surge in cases in early 2022, the total number of patients with COVID-19 surpassed the 2021 peak. However, the numbers being treated in intensive care are lower than they were early in the pandemic.
The chart below shows patients in Scottish hospitals who have tested positive for COVID-19 – not all of them are being treated for COVID-19 illness.
The first COVID-19 death in Scotland was reported by NHS Lothian on 13 March 2020.
The spring outbreak peaked in mid-April 2020 and then mainly declined until the summer, when deaths remained at a relatively low level.
The rate of new deaths rose again in the autumn of 2020 as the second wave of the pandemic took hold, finally peaking at the end of January 2021.
The number of deaths in subsequent waves of COVID-19 infections peaked at much lower levels, but deaths are still occurring.
