Covid-19 hospital cases have fallen to their lowest rate since last summer, according to a public health expert.
Prof Linda Bauld said daily hospital cases with the virus had dropped to less than 50, the first time the figure has dropped so low in almost a year.
She told BBC Scotland there were about 650 people in hospital with the virus, compared with more than 2,000 last month.
She added that the R number was now between 0.7 and 0.9.
The latest Scottish government figures showed that on Friday there were eight patients in ICU, and a total of 644 patients being treated for Covid in Scottish hospitals.
The weekly sampling survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also found that in the week of 15-21 May, 135,400 people in Scotland were estimated to have had the virus, the equivalent of one in 40 people.
The rest of the UK had lower rates, with England at one in 60, Wales at one in 55 and Northern Ireland registering one in 80.
Figures also suggested that rates of coronavirus in children had decreased, however the trend for adults was inconclusive.
However, Prof Bauld stressed that the virus had not gone away and there was still potential for new variants to emerge.
- Nicola Sturgeon tests positive for Covid-19
- Covid in Scotland: The latest cases
- Scots with Covid no longer need to self-isolate
- How well have Scotland and the UK coped with Covid?
"We've seen a significant decline in levels of infection in the community," she told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme.
She added: "That R number – which nobody is hearing about any more, but is still with us – is well below … it's between 0.7 and 0.9."
'Much more stable situation'
Prof Bauld added: "We're not saying that everything's over because we may see new variants, and we may see surges in infection again, but we do seem to be in a much more stable situation."
The Omicron variant, which spread aggressively during the winter, caused a surge in cases.
When asked if holidays during the summer could change the Covid-19 landscape in Scotland, Prof Bauld said travel was "less of a concern than it was".
She also said the risk to the general public from monkeypox was low, after it was announced on Thursday that three cases had been recorded in Scotland.
Your post on Magazine (https://Artmotion.com)
