Coronavirus cases in Scottish hospitals fell over the weekend as protection from the vaccine appeared to be easing the burden on the NHS.
There were 422 people in hospital with coronavirus yesterday, down by more than a tenth from 474 on Friday.
The number of people admitted to hospital has also halved from about 100 per day in the middle of last month to 50 per day last week.
Hospital cases had ticked up on Thursday, from 474 to 490, prompting a warning that demand for coronavirus beds could remain high well into this month if the apparent tail-off in positive tests in the community did not feed through to hospital cases.
There had been concerns that the apparent drop in community infections was caused by people not getting tested, rather than an actual drop in cases, as epidemiologists were still detecting high levels of the virus in wastewater, particularly in Renfrewshire.
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Some hospitals have cancelled non-urgent procedures such as hip replacements to cope with demand, and a sustained level of more than 400 cases would be disastrous for many of them.
The latest figures offer more hope that Scotland has turned a corner on the third wave, with an increasing number of health workers also returning to work. The number of these workers absent for “Covid-related reasons” has fallen by almost a third in a month, from more than 2,700 four weeks ago to fewer than 1,900 last week.
The Scottish government has lifted the requirement for double-vaccinated health workers to isolate if they come into contact with a coronavirus carrier.
Public Health Scotland issued more evidence of the benefits of the vaccine last week, with a report stating that the vast majority of deaths this year had been among the unvaccinated.
It said that there was no room for complacency as the vaccine was only about 90 per cent effective, so policymakers are urged to maintain some level of coronavirus protection in society after Scotland moves beyond level 0 on August 9.
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Deaths among double-jabbed people increased by more than 40 per cent at the peak of the third wave. There were 64 deaths in total among people who had received both doses of vaccine in the year to July 8.
A further 28 died in the week to July 15, a 40 per cent increase in seven days. People aged over 80 accounted for 49 deaths among the double-vaccinated this year. Thirty-two died in their seventies, eight in their sixties, two in their fifties and one in their forties.
There have been 262 deaths among people who have received a single dose, and 2,967 deaths among the unvaccinated this year to date.
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, is expected to maintain some measures for the foreseeable future such as mandatory masks in public.
Devi Sridhar, chairwoman of global public health at Edinburgh University, has warned of a new wave of infection when schools reopen in mid-August if school pupils are not vaccinated. Sridhar said that schoolchildren could also become a breeding ground for new, vaccine-resistant strains of the virus.
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Dr Gregor Smith, Scotland’s chief medical officer, will write to the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation, the committee that advises UK ministers on vaccine distribution, to seek a review of its decision to withhold the vaccine from children.
Virologists believe that herd immunity will be reached when about 80 per cent of the whole population, including children, are vaccinated. Only 57 per cent of Scotland’s whole population have had both doses and there are no plans to vaccinate the under-16s, who make up 17 per cent of the population.
