One in 15 people in Scotland were estimated to have Covid last week as cases increased for the seventh consecutive week.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that 340,900 people would have tested positive for the virus in the week ending 14 July.
The current wave is being driven by the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants, which are more transmissible than other strains.
Professor Rowland Kao, of the University of Edinburgh, told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Overall, the number of people who are getting seriously infected is far lower compared to the number being infected. But it is still substantial and there is still quite a number of people who are getting serious illness, including long Covid, who have no obvious reason why that is occurring so we need to be aware of that.”
It was confirmed last week that everyone over the age of 50 would be offered an additional Covid booster jab in the autumn. Other groups of people at higher risk from the virus will also be given another dose of the vaccine to boost their immunity.
