NYCOVID ON RISE

Calls for new booster programme

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

COVID cases in Scotland have spiked by almost a third in the past week with the highly infectious New York variant on the rise.

Public health expert Professor Linda Bauld has called for an extension of the vaccination programme to all over-50s.

In the past week, there were 15,541 confirmed cases in Scotland - about 2200 cases per day - up 30.5 per cent on the previous week.

The most recent Office for National Statistics figures showed about one in 30 Scots with the virus - more than 182,000.

There have also been rises in the numbers of people in hospital and in intensive care.