THE number of people aged over 60 requiring hospital treatment for Covid-19 has tripled in a month, new figures from Public Health Scotland show.
The data, published yesterday, revealed that there were nearly as many admissions of fully vaccinated patients as unvaccinated patients in Scotland’s hospitals last week.
Admissions over-80s are now outnumbering other patient age groups, with 94 admitted from July 7 to July 13. Meanwhile 69 people aged 70-79, 80 people agreed 60-69, 73 people agreed 50-59 and 85 people aged 40-49 were admitted. There were also 82 admissions among people agreed 30-39 and 69 admissions among those aged 20-29.
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In the week up to July 13 there were 603 hospital admissions for Covid, with most over 60 despite that age group being nearly 100% fully vaccinated. This was up from 237 in the week ending June 22.
Hospital admissions are now increasing most quickly among the over-60s, from 158 at the end of June to 360 in the week ending July 13.
Meanwhile, Public Health Scotland data showed that more than 60 people have died with Covid-19 after receiving both vaccine doses, while 250 people have died with Covid-19 after receiving one dose.
The body said: “From December 29, 2020, to July 8, 2021, 90.2% of confirmed Covid-19 deaths were in unvaccinated individuals, 7.8 per cent had received one dose of the vaccine, and 1.9% had received two doses.
“[In that period], 64 individuals tested positive .. more than 14 days after receiving their second dose and subsequently died with Covid-19 recorded as a primary or contributing cause. This equates to 0.002% of those who have received two doses.”
A man in his thirties, with no underlying health conditions, also died with coronavirus – he represents the first fatality of an under-35 linked to the virus since April.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has said he is concerned about the number of young people receiving their vaccine – according to The Times, nearly half of men in their 20s do not turn up for appointments.
Yousaf said: “There are a number of things we are doing including going to where young people are like football matches, working with clubs to get people vaccinated, going to shopping centres and we are going to campuses.”
Opposition politicians have called for a more visible social media campaign to encourage young people to get vaccinated.
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