About this release

This weekly release by Public Health Scotland presents data on COVID-19 across NHSScotland.

Main points

  • As at 12 December 2021, there have been 769,642 confirmed COVID-19 cases; 22,252 of these were recorded in the most recent week, an increase of 11.2% from the previous week.
  • Based on data reported through 12 December 2021, PHS is reporting sustained community transmission of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 across Scotland. The proportion of cases with S gene target failure, a proxy for the Omicron variant, has exponentially increased since 23 November, and as at 12 December 2021, S gene target failure cases accounted for 22.6% of all cases reported by Pillar 2 Lighthouse Laboratory. The variant is on a trajectory to rapidly replace Delta as the dominant strain of COVID-19 in Scotland.
  • In the week ending 5 December 2021, 19,731 individuals were recorded in the contact tracing software, from which 31,182 unique contacts have been traced.
  • In the week ending 7 December 2021, there were 399 admissions to hospital with a laboratory confirmed test of COVID-19. The highest number of new admissions are now in those aged 80+.
  • The proportion of all people who were admitted to hospital within 14 days of a laboratory confirmed COVID-19 positive test has declined, from 12% in the week ending 31 January 2021, to 3% in the most recent week ending 28 November 2021.
  • In the week ending 12 December 2021 there were 24 new admissions to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) for confirmed COVID-19. This is a decrease of 14.3% from the week ending 5 December 2021.
  • COVID-19 vaccination uptake among early learning and childcare staff and school teachers was similar to, or higher than, the general Scottish population of the same age.

Additional charts and data are available to view in the interactive dashboard accompanying this report.

Wider impact detailed analysis

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a wider impact on health and care as a result of the lockdown, economic pressures and changes to health services.

A range of analyses on the impact of COVID-19 across aspects of NHS Scotland is available on the interactive information tool (external website).

Background

Since the start of the outbreak, Public Health Scotland (PHS) has been working closely with the Scottish Government and health and care colleagues to support the surveillance and monitoring of COVID-19 amongst the population. There is a large amount of data being regularly published regarding COVID-19. For example, Coronavirus in Scotland – Scottish Government (external website) and Deaths involving coronavirus in Scotland – National Records of Scotland (external website). This report complements the range of existing data currently available.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 22 December 2021.

Find out more

Previous Publications

Versions of the Weekly national respiratory report publication released before 30 November 2022 may be found on the Public Health Scotland website.

Versions of the COVID-19 weekly statistical report publication released before 30 November 2022 may be found on the Public Health Scotland website.

Open data

Open data from this publication is available from the following weblinks:

Further data

  • The COVID-19 Vaccine Wastage datafile was updated on 14 September 2023 to include the most recent information.
  • The COVID-19 in Adult Care Homes in Scotland datafile was updated on 27 July 2023 to include more recent information.
  • 28 September 2022 COVID-19 statistical report publication contains information on COVID-19 infection and vaccination in pregnancy in Scotland.
  • 2 March 2022 COVID-19 statistical report publication contains information on Highest Risk (shielding patients list)
  • 7 November 2023 Community Acute Respiratory Infection (CARI) surveillance in primary care contains information on flu Vaccine effectiveness in community settings.
  • 25 May 2023 Interim 2022/23 influenza vaccine effectiveness: six European studies, October 2022 to January 2023, contains information on flu Vaccine effectiveness in hospital settings.
  • 13 January 2024 Estimated number of lives directly saved by COVID-19 vaccination programs in the WHO European Region, December 2020 to March 2023, contains information on lives saved due to COVID-19 vaccination

General enquiries

If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please email phs.covid19data&analytics@phs.scot.

Media enquiries

If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.

Requesting other formats and reporting issues

If you require publications or documents in other formats, please email phs.otherformats@phs.scot.

To report any issues with a publication, please email phs.generalpublications@phs.scot.

Older versions of this publication

Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.

Last updated: 21 March 2024
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