SCOTLAND now has more people with Covid-19 in hospital than at any other point in the pandemic, according to the latest figures.

Data released by the Scottish Government on Monday shows that there were 2128 people in hospital with the disease across the country.

This is 75 greater than the record high of 2053 reported on January 22, 2021.

On Friday, there were 2050 people in Scotland in hospital with Covid-19. The Scottish Government has stopped publishing data over the weekend, but Monday’s figures include the past three days.

As well as the fact that there are 2128 people in hospital with the disease, the latest data shows there are 31 people in intensive care. 

Seven confirmed Covid-19 patients have been in intensive care for longer than 28 days.

The figures further show that 9533 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported.

There were zero deaths recorded, but the Government noted that register offices are generally closed at weekends. This means the total number of deaths under this measure - of people who died within 28 days of testing positive - remains at 11,126.

In terms of the vaccination effort, 4,449,246 people have received their first jag, 4,175,197 have received their second, and 3,476,291 have received a third dose or booster.

Last week, 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.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics last week showed levels of Covid infection in Scotland have hit another record high.

They have now risen for seven weeks in a row, with 376,300 people likely to have had the virus last week – or one in 14 – up from one in 18 people the previous week.