Hundreds of hospital wards have been forced to close due to Covid outbreaks in the first seven months of this year, according to figures obtained by the Herald.
At least 237 wards were closed to new admissions - typically for periods of around seven to 10 days - in a bid to prevent the virus spreading to other patients.
That compares to a total of 93 ward closures up to the end of July for all other infection control incidents combined, including cases of norovirus, flu, RSV, or gastroenteritis.
The true figures will be higher, however, as NHS Dumfries and Galloway has not yet responded to a freedom of information request and NHS Lothian - Scotland’s second largest health board - said it was unable to provide data.
In addition, NHS Western Isles had to temporarily shut two wards at its main hospital in Stornoway earlier this month after a “small number” of patients tested positive for Covid.
Dr Toni Ho, an infectious diseases physician and clinical senior lecturer at Glasgow University’s Centre for Virus Research, said the figures illustrate the ongoing impact of Covid on the NHS.
She said: "A lot of people focus on disease severity - that most people in hospital with Covid aren’t that sick anymore, and that’s true.
"We’re not seeing the disease severity we were seeing in 2020 or 2021, but it doesn’t mean that Covid isn’t still causing enormous problems as those figures demonstrate.
"Although people aren’t getting as sick, it’s still really disrupting a very burdened NHS.
"We still need to isolate those patients.
“Given the backlog of people we have waiting for treatment and the challenges we have in social care - getting patients back out of hospital - closing all these wards across the country is really problematic.”
It comes as NHS testing for Covid will be “substantially reduced” within days, despite evidence of rising incidence and concerns over a highly mutated new strain of the virus - BA2.86 - which may be more immune evasive.
The Scottish Government said its updated guidance, effective from August 30, follows scientific advice and means that testing policy will be “proportionate” and “based on person-centred clinical decisions”.
Frontline staff experiencing possible Covid symptoms will no longer have access to tests.
Routine Covid testing will continue only for patients being transferred from hospitals to care homes, although symptomatic patients can still be tested in line with infection control protocols.
However, immunosuppressed patients will no longer be automatically tested for Covid prior to undergoing elective surgery.
The latest changes continue the rollback on extra precautions introduced into the health service during the pandemic.
In September last year, weekly Covid testing ended for asymptomatic frontline staff and routine Covid testing for all hospital patients on admission and during their stay - regardless of symptoms - also ceased.
The goal was to reduce the impact the disease was having on capacity, in terms of staff absence and ward closures, but critics warned it could also lead to an increase in hospital spread.
In May, facemask requirements for staff and visitors to hospitals and care homes were also lifted.
This has provoked a backlash from some healthcare workers and campaigners who argue that it exposes vulnerable patients to unnecessary risk and will increase harms, such as long Covid, for staff.
They have called for better ventilation and mandated use of FFP2-style masks as a minimum to reduce transmission.
Professor Chris Dye, an expert in infectious diseases and former scientific advisor to the World Health Organisation, evaluated facemasks for a major report pubished this week by the Royal Society which found “conclusive” evidence that they work.
He said: "Given what we found - which is that masks are effective - then the recommendation would be to wear them wherever there’s any risk of transmission or infection.
“One of the settings in which the risk of transmission is highest is in hospitals and in care homes, so it makes complete sense to me that if Covid is around - or indeed other respiratory viruses are around - then it would be very sensible for anyone working with vulnerable people in those settings to wear a mask.”
Dr Sally Witcher, a disability campaigner and former Scottish Government advisor who has been lobbying for an “inclusive new normal” approach to Covid, said clean air combined with well-fitting respirator masks would “help prevent airborne infection spread – not just of Covid but some other infections responsible for closing wards”.
She added: "A strategy of giving a few people occasional boosters and expecting the rest to ‘live with Covid’ like it wasn’t there, removing the data that confirms it very much is, and just leaving people to get repeatedly ill is not a strategy.
"It’s an abdication of governmental responsibility that puts everyone at avoidable risk, particularly if exposed to repeated infection.
"And it’s throwing those who consequently end up with long Covid and clinically vulnerable people under a bus.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The closure of hospital wards is an operational matter and therefore, a decision made by NHS Boards.
"The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to follow the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual for appropriate management and guidance for infection, prevention and control.”