SCOTLAND needs to bring back restrictions to curb record numbers of new Covid cases, a leading public health expert has warned.

Dr Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary, University of London, wrote last night on Twitter that lifting curbs on August 9 was "a mistake" and that the country was "proving to be a cautionary tale of what happens when restrictions are dropped and then schools reopened without adequate mitigations when R is already above 1".

She spoke out after Scotland recorded another record number of new coronavirus cases, with 7113 people testing positive for the first time, according to the official figures released yesterday.

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It was the third time in a week the record for new infections has been broken, with the First Minister – who had to self-isolate yesterday after a close contact tested positive for Covid-19 – warned last week the situation is "fragile" and said further restrictions could not be ruled out. The First Minister today had a negative result to a PCR test for the virus.

New cases have more than doubled in a week, although the figure released on Sunday includes some tests taken more than 48 hours ago due to backlog and delays in the testing system.

The number of patients in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus infections has also risen for the ninth consecutive day, reaching 507, with 52 in intensive care.

"Scotland is proving to be a cautionary tale of what happens when restrictions are dropped & then schools reopened without adequate mitigations when R is already above 1 (which is where we are in England). We can expect worse in England in the near future," wrote Gurdasani, who went on to raise concerns over the dropping of contact tracing in Scottish schools.

"The question is why the Scottish government has moved ahead with policies of dropping contact tracing in schools which will fuel spread. What could possibly justify a policy of not identifying contacts in schools where kids spend seven hrs together, but doing this in all other settings?

"A while there is talk of buying CO2 monitors, not much has been done to improve ventilation, upgrade masks or keep background transmission down. And keeping exposed children in classrooms makes these lack of mitigations even more dangerous."

She added: "Hospitalisations in Scotland are already increasing, and the impact of increase in transmission among children following school openings will only be felt in hospitalisation rates among these groups next week, given lags between infections and admissions.

"This should be a warning for England, where the situation is likely to be much worse. The most recent ONS survey shows ~1 in 50 secondary school age children have infection. This is *before* school openings after a decline from the very high peak at the end of the term in July.

"Later this week, we will have unvaccinated children going to school in England with infection rates 26x higher than they were in September last year, with a more transmissible variant. Last September cases quadrupled after schools reopened in 4 weeks. What's going to happen this time?

"Let's remember schools in England won't even have the few mitigations that are present in Scotland. So no masks, no ventilation, no distancing, no contact tracing in schools (contacts won't even be asked to test!). This is a recipe for disaster.

"I do think Scotland needs to take urgent action to avert further rises in cases- it's clear they need urgent mitigations in schools and caps on gatherings at the very least. Scottish policy may be better than England, but that's a low bar to clear.

"It's very clear that the 9th August easing of restrictions (done when R was above 1) in Scotland was a mistake, and the lack of planning for robust mitigations in schools and following England policy on dropping contact tracing in schools was another mistake.

"I'm tired of saying this, but we can no longer deny the role large gatherings and schools play in transmission, and it's vital to address this. Denial will lead into the very lockdowns and school closures that everyone wants to avoid. We need to act quickly."

Almost 15,000 pupils were absent from Scottish schools in one day due to Covid-19 related reasons, figures published last week revealed.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said the rise in cases linked to school and impact on absence rates is a “significant cause for concern”.

The figures released by Public Health Scotland show test positivity amongst the 12-17 age group has increased to 19.9% last week, compared to 18.5% the previous week.

The statistics also indicate that two out of every 100 pupils nationally are currently absent from school for virus-related reasons.

MSPs are due to receive an update on the pandemic on Wednesday from the Scottish Government which will address whether any restrictions will be reintroduced.

Responding to Guardasani's intervention, a Scottish Government spokesman said:

“The safety of school pupils and staff has been a top priority for the Scottish Government throughout the pandemic, as has keeping children and young people in schools wherever it is safe to do so.

"We recently published detailed guidance to help ensure that, as schools return, they remain low risk environments for infection and transmission of the virus.

“Test and Protect has implemented revised guidance for under 18s. A targeted approach will be operated that identifies children and young people who are higher risk close contacts, so that they can be asked to self-isolate until a negative PCR test is received.

“Other potential lower risk contacts in the school environment should be provided with a ‘warn and inform’ letter, setting out advice on regular testing and other important precautions. This means that fewer young people will have to self-isolate, and most will be asked to self-isolate for a much shorter period of time.

“To allow time to monitor the impacts of important changes to self-isolation and contact tracing policies for under 18s, the majority of the mitigations that were in place in schools in the previous term will be retained for up to six weeks, following which they will be reviewed in light of the latest data and evidence.

"These include important measures in respect of ventilation and CO2 monitoring, the majority of which have been in place in guidance since last year.”