A SCOTTISH health board has restricted hospital visiting due to concerns over rising cases of Covid-19 across the region.

NHS Tayside reintroduced Level 2 rules across its sites yesterday, meaning patients can only receive one visitor, despite some areas including Angus and Perth and Kinross being in Level 1.

The most recent weekly figures show Kirriemuir in Angus has emerged as Scotland’s Covid hotspot – 70 cases were recorded in the last seven days. NHS Tayside also recorded the highest seven-day rate in Scotland at 206 cases per 100,000.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson yesterday said the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus is a matter of “serious, serious concern”.

The Prime Minister is tomorrow expected to announce a delay of up to four weeks in the final easing of restrictions in England which had been due to take place on June 21 under the Government’s road map.

Speaking during the G7 summit in Cornwall, he insisted that no decisions had been taken ahead of the formal announcement.

But he said: “It’s clear that the Indian variant is more transmissible and it’s also true that the cases are going up, and that the levels of hospitalisation are going up.

“We don’t know exactly to what extent that is going to feed through into extra mortality, but clearly it’s a matter of serious, serious concern.”

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Yesterday Scotland recorded two deaths and more than 1000 new Covid cases in the previous 24 hours.

The statistics show 1030 new infections of Covid-19 were reported, but the Scottish Government said it is aware of a delay at the Lighthouse Lab in Glasgow, which may mean tests and cases reported over the last 48 hours were fewer than in the previous days. The test positivity rate stood at 4.1%.

A total of 3,477,378 people have now received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 2,402,700 have had a second.

Discussions are taking place between governments around the UK about the “constrained” supply of the Pfizer vaccine which is expected in the coming weeks.

Following a meeting of the British-Irish Council on Friday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “We know the Delta variant is allowing this virus to transmit more quickly and therefore we have to do everything possible to make sure that vaccination happens at a pace that can keep it under control.

“Across all four of the nations, vaccination is going extremely well, but we do know that we have, as we have at points in the past, periods coming up where some vaccine supply will be more constrained, and over the next few weeks that looks as if it will be Pfizer.”

Experts have warned the UK Government to be “cautious” about fully lifting lockdown measures in England due to the rise in cases of the Delta variant.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the Nervtag advisory group, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This Delta variant seems to be about 60% more transmissible than [the Alpha variant].

“So it really has gone up another gear and that means that we really have to double down and not lose all the advantage that has been gained by the massive effort that has been put in so far.”