About this release

This weekly release by Public Health Scotland presents data on COVID-19 across NHSScotland. New analysis included this week: Ethnicity – COVID-19 outcomes.

Main points

  • As at 18 May 2020, there have been 14,594 confirmed COVID-19 cases, equating to 267 confirmed cases per 100,000 population.
  • The number of new admissions for patients who test positive for COVID-19 has reduced over the last two weeks and is now substantially lower than the number at the peak in late March/early April.

 

Image caption Daily profile of Hospital Admissions* for those with a positive COVID-19 result
Line chart showing daily profile of Hospital Admissions for those with a positive COVID-19 result

Source: RAPID – Data for acute hospitals only, Golden Jubilee National Hospital not included.

*Any admission for which the patient was tested positive during their stay in hospital OR within 14 days prior to the date of admission

  • An initial analysis of the ethnicity of COVID-19 patients in hospital and seriously ill has been carried out. While the proportion of ethnic minority patients among those seriously ill with COVID-19 appears no higher than the proportion in the Scottish population generally, numbers are currently very low and the analysis will be improved and updated as more data becomes available.
  • As at 17 May 2020, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit was 502, compared to 495 as at 10 May 2020.

Background

On 1 March 2020, the first person in Scotland was tested positive for COVID-19. On the 17 March NHS Scotland was placed in an emergency footing by the Cabinet Secretary. Schools have been closed since 20 March and the country has been in lockdown since 23 March.

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a rapidly evolving situation.

Wider impact detailed analysis

Further exploratory analysis is available on the interactive detailed analysis (external website).

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.statsgov@phs.scot.

Media enquiries

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

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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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