In the week ending June 17, there was a 40% increase (1,005 positive cases) in Fife compared with the previous seven days as another wave of infections continues to hit Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon recommends a return to mask wearing.
In In Tayside, Dundee saw an increase of 34% (335 positive cases), with a 39.6% rise (310 positive cases) in Angus.
Nationally, Scotland saw the largest increase in Covid cases in the UK last week, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which estimates about 250,700 people – one in 20 – had the virus in the week ending June 17.
The rise in case numbers comes as a new wave of Covid, thought to be caused by the new, more contagious Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants which are more transmissible than previous strains of the virus, Delta, and earlier variants of Omicron, and able to reinfect people faster than other variants.
In an interview wiith the BBC, First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said “We need to all be sensible and take precautions.
“It’s no longer, for example, a requirement to wear a face covering in an indoor place but right now when cases are rising again, it would be a sensible precaution to wear a face covering if you’re in an indoor place with crowds of people around you.
“We’ve all got out of the way of doing that in recent weeks, it’s perhaps sensible in the next few weeks to get back into the way of doing that.”
