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Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that a new strain of Covid attributed to the outbreaks in south-east England has now been found in Scotland.
The Prime Minister said nine cases had been identified in the Greater Glasgow & Clyde health board region, which covers a large geographic area in the west of the country, this week.
During her weekly lockdown review at Holyrood, the SNP leader said: “While initial analysis suggests it may be more transmissible, with a faster growth rate than existing variants, that’s still not certain.
“Instead, it may be the case that it has been identified in areas where the virus is already spreading more rapidly.”
When asked about the variant by Tory MSP Ruth Davidson, she said:
“I think it is important to say, first, that we have to take this seriously, but it is equally important to say that none of the users should react prematurely to this.”
He added: “It is important to say that nothing that is currently known about this is absolutely true.”
It comes as Scotland has recorded 24 deaths of coronavirus patients and 854 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours, according to official figures.
The death toll under this measure, of people who tested positive for the virus for the first time in the previous 28 days, is now 4,135.
Statistics released by the Scottish government indicate that the test’s daily positivity rate is 7.4%, up from 7.6% on Monday.
A total of 107,749 people tested positive in Scotland, up from 106,904 the day before.
There are 996 people in the hospital confirmed to have the virus, six fewer in 24 hours.
Of these patients, 45 are in intensive care, in one.
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