Hundreds of Covid cases in last few weeks

SHETLAND has recorded over 500 positive Covid-19 cases in the past three weeks, according to NHS Scotland data.

It shows that from 6 January until Friday  (28 January) 549 cases were recorded.

That includes 97 PCR-only tests, 40 lateral flow (LFT) and PCR-confirmed cases and 412 LFT-only cases.

On Friday there were a total of 32 cases – five PCR-confirmed positives and 27 LFT positives – following 22 LFT positives on Thursday. Those numbers are broadly in line with the prevalence seen over the past fortnight.

Across Scotland on Friday there were 7,258 new cases reported and 16 deaths of people who had tested positive. There were 1,319 people in hospital with recently confirmed Covid, down 17 on the previous day, and 32 patients in intensive care – up two on the previous day.

The Omicron wave since early December has seen a consistently high number of cases across the UK, but the proportion of people getting seriously ill and dying has been much lower than in earlier phases of the pandemic.

A health board meeting on Tuesday heard that the “vast majority” of recent cases had been in children aged 11 or under who are generally less likely to become ill.

NHS Shetland public health principal Elizabeth Robinson said that while the Omicron situation had calmed somewhat since Christmas the future remains uncertain: “We just don’t know what might be around the corner.”