Scottish Labour has slammed the SNP’s “summer off”, as Parliament returns amid record high Covid levels.

Today 3,893 new cases were recorded, taking the rolling weekly total to 37,968 – the highest ever recorded.

This is up by almost 80% compared to the week before.

Scottish Labour have criticised the Scottish government for letting Covid spiral out of control over the summer, the lack of resourcing for Test and Protect putting them on the verge of collapse and presiding over a stalling vaccine roll out, as well as failing to convene the Parliamentary Covid Recovery Group.

Commenting, Scottish Labour’s Health and Covid Recovery spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “Covid levels are spiralling out of control across Scotland as Ministers come back from their summer off.

“Instead of learning the lessons from last year, the SNP have wasted the last two months, and now we are sending pupils back to unsafe schools and unvaccinated students off to university.

“Test and Protect has been all but abandoned and the vaccine roll-out has stalled – but the Covid Recovery Group didn’t have a single meeting.

“The SNP’s attitude has been nothing short of negligent – it is little wonder cases are at an all-time high.

“We need to see some real accountability when the new parliamentary term starts, so we can get the virus back under control and keep people safe.”