For the UK as a whole, Covid cases have dropped slightly over the last seven days, according to Government coronavirus dashboard data. On September 2, 38,154 new Covid cases were reported, with 236,152 reported over the last seven days.

       Compared to the previous seven days, 2,353 fewer UK Covid cases were reported in the most recent seven-day period, a drop of one percent week-on-week.

       But in Scotland, Covid cases have risen over the last few days, with 6,400 cases reported on September 2.

       On September 1, 6,170 Covid cases were reported, and 6,029 cases were reported in Scotland on August 31.

       And on August 29, Scotland recorded its highest daily case number of the pandemic with 7,113 cases confirmed.

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       Scotland's Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, said the rise of Covid cases in Scotland has been "fuelled" by schools returning.

       In Scotland, many schools reopened after the summer holidays in mid-August.

       Mr Swinney told the BBC: "Cases have risen very significantly within Scotland and we are looking closely at why that is the case.

       "Undoubtedly the gathering of people together in schools will have fuelled that to some extent, and you can see that in the proportion of younger people who are testing positive."

       According to analysis from the PA news agency earlier this week, the five UK areas with the biggest week-on-week rise in Covid cases are all in Scotland.

       The analysis was based on Covid cases reported in the seven days leading to August 29.

       For the analysis, the rate is expressed as the number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

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       The five UK areas with the biggest week-on-week rises are:

       Additionally, of the 377 local authority areas in the UK, 36 percent (134 places) have seen a week-on-week rise in Covid rates.

       However, 63 percent of areas (239 places) have seen a fall in the rate of cases, while four areas remain unchanged.

       Elsewhere in the UK, Mansfield has the highest Covid case rate in England with a rate of 562.4.

       Swansea has the highest rate in Wales of 649.7 and for Northern Ireland, Fermanagh and Omagh has the highest rate of 983.5.