MORE than 100 school pupils in Scotland have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the new term, the Scottish Government has confirmed.
Education Secretary John Swinney said 77 young people aged between 12 and 17 have tested positive, alongside 40 pupils aged between five and 11.
However, he said 11,208 children between 12 and 17 have tested negative, as well as 28,664 of those between five and 11.
The latest figures show that as of Friday, August 28, there were 22,821 pupils absent either for all or part of the school day because of Covid-related reasons.
Mr Swinney was responding to a question from Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene in Holyrood.
The Education Secretary said: "Full contact tracing is undertaken in all cases where a positive case is detected, and I pay tribute to the enormous industry that is put into this effort by the contact tracers."
He said "every effort is made to understand where infection has come from".
He added: "On the evidence that I have seen, most of the contraction of the virus is coming within household settings.
"That's not in every case, but I would say that is the predominant explanation, is in household situations and that may also be informed by international travel, which is resulting in quite a number of the cases with which we are wrestling."
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