Covid restrictions in England have ended and soon, they will also come to an end in Scotland.
Legal rules surrounding masks, vaccine passports and gathering limits will come to an end on March 31 north of the border but experts have now sent a warning to Scots as they prepare for the final milestone.
Recently, scientists have stressed that the pandemic is not over and cases in older age groups are increasing with studies showing the latest 'stealth omicron' variant is more transmissible, reports HullLive.
The sub-variant BA.2 has been dubbed as the 'stealth' strain due to how difficult it is to differentiate with standard Covid tests and new data has shown that cases in the UK are on the rise.
Researchers have said an increase could be due to a number of factors including an increase of mixing now that rules are being relaxed.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: “These data confirm that cases have declined substantially following the peak of the omicron wave.
"However, the increasing presence of the BA.2 sub-lineage of omicron and the recent slight increase in infections in those over 55 show that the pandemic is not over and that we can expect to see Covid circulating at high levels.
"Vaccination remains the best way to protect us all from severe disease and hospitalisation due to Covid-19 infection. We urge you to come forward for your primary or booster doses straight away if you have not already done so."
Findings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) predict that one in 19 people have the virus in Scotland at present based off of figures from the week February 20 to 26 2022.
This equates to around 280,500 people.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch added that there is no reason for Scots "panic" over the figures.
He added: "I'm not panicking – I’m not thinking we should suddenly go back to restrictions or protections, but I am concerned.
"As we mix more, the virus gets more opportunities, so we’ve got 10,000 cases a day, we’ve had a little bit of an increase in those in hospital – it’s not huge, so people shouldn’t panic, but this disease is not over and it’s not done with us."
