The recent rise in cases of coronavirus in Scotland may have "peaked", a public health expert has claimed. Dr Kimberly Marsh , a consultant healthcare scientist at Public Health Scotland (PHS), said Covid-19 did not appear to follow seasonal patterns such as illnesses like flu. Advertisement Advertisement Sign up to our Politics newsletter Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
The latest data from PHS, for the week ending July 14, had cases at 1,130 – down from 1,245 the previous week. Dr Marsh told BBC Radio Scotland 's The Sunday Show: "Our data in Scotland shows that there has been an increase in Covid-19 and this has been really seen since mid April, with a steeper increase in June. "There are, however, some early signals that this wave may have peaked, but our data are still provisional for this week.
" She said there could be a number of reasons behind the summer increase in cases, including the variant known as KP.3. The Covid vaccine is still effective against the new variant, she said.
Discussing the latest advice for those feeling ill, Dr Marsh said: "If you're feeling unwell, if you have symptoms, you should avoid contact with others until you're better and fever-free." Good hand hygiene and ventilation are still important to protect people at risk of the most serious outcom.