HOSPITALISATIONS of Covid patients in Scotland have continued to climb as case rates reach record highs, new figures show.
Data released on March 18 showed there were 2050 people in hospital across Scotland with Covid-19. There were 31 people in intensive case.
The hospitalisation figure is just three lower than the record high of 2053 reported on January 22, 2021.
Elsewhere, data from the Office for National Statistics shows Scotland has seen infection levels rise for seven weeks in a row, reaching the highest number of cases since the start of the pandemic.
A total of 376,300 people were estimated to have had Covid-19 last week, or one in 14.
This number is up from 299,900 people, or one in 18, the previous week.
Daily figures released on Friday show that 18,124 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in 24 hours.
The Government noted that figures reported on March 18 include more than a 24-hour period (from 2pm, March 16 and March 17) due to the technical issues earlier in the week.
The news comes as 23 further deaths of coronavirus patients were also recorded.
In terms of the vaccination effort, 4,441,944 people have received their first jag, 4,173,678 have received their second, and 3,473,650 have received a third dose or booster.
On Tuesday, the First Minister announced that masks would remain a legal requirement in Scotland until April amid the rising case numbers.
Nicola Sturgeon further told MSPs that the rising infection rate north of the Border was due to the prevalence of the BA2 subvariant of Omicron, which is estimated to be much more transmissible than the original variant.
The BA2 variant now accounts for around 80% of all Covid cases in Scotland, Sturgeon said.
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