IT problems hold up Scotland’s daily coronavirus data

IT issues have held up Sunday’s daily coronavirus data update.

Scheduled to be published by the Scottish Government every day at 2pm, the figures for positive cases, deaths and vaccinations were unavailable.

An update said Public Health Scotland was unable to provide the data due to IT issues on Sunday morning and that the problem was under investigation.

The figures are not expected to be updated until Monday.

However, numbers of people in hospital with coronavirus were available.

As of Saturday, there were 1562 people in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19 with 42 in intensive care.

Restrictions on outdoor gatherings are due to be eased on Monday, following an announcement by Nicola Sturgeon earlier in the week.

The limit of 500 spectators at large outdoor events will be lifted, meaning football and rugby fans will be able to return to stadiums.

National clinical director Jason Leitch said the reversal on outdoor restrictions after three weeks did not show the Scottish Government acted too quickly.

“I think the advice we gave was correct,” he told Scotland Tonight, “You have to judge the facts you have got, you can’t guess.

“Omicron does appear to be milder than Delta for serious disease, but it’s not mild. It still puts a huge amount of our population at risk, particularly those who are vulnerable.”

Thousands of care home staff were off work in the last week due to Covid, according to Public Health Scotland figures.

Health secretary Humza Yousaf said data shows infections and associated staff absences due to the coronavirus could peak by mid-January, and by treating more people at home with anti-virals, there will be more capacity in hospitals.