Scotland’s national clinical director, Jason Leitch, has tested positive for Covid-19.
The professor shared a photo of his positive test on Twitter, and said: “Well, it finally got me for the first time.
“Global and Scottish cases are rising. Be careful everyone. I’ll be following the recommended guidance and hoping for a short, easy course. I’m very glad I’m fully vaccinated.”
Well, it finally got me for the first time. Global and Scottish cases are rising. Be careful everyone. I’ll be following the recommended guidance and hoping for a short, easy course. I’m very glad I’m fully vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/cydk6jIiVx
— Jason Leitch (@jasonleitch) June 18, 2022
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) around one in 30 people in Scotland had Covid-19 in the week ending 10 June.
They estimate that 176,900 people in Scotland had the virus - about 3.36% of the population.
However, Professor Rowland Kao, an epidemiology expert from Edinburgh University, said Covid infection rates could be “substantially higher.”
Experts believe two new strains of the Omicron virus are responsible for the increase in cases.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Prof Kao said: “One of the things is that we actually don’t know how much Covid is out there, because we no longer do surveillance for it.
“So that one in 30 is probably substantially higher.”
He said rising Covid numbers were linked to the emergence of a new variant “which is slightly different from the Omicron variant which was spreading earlier this year, which is now becoming more prevalent”.
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