Thousands of probable cases of Covid caught in hospitals in NHS England have been excluded from official figures.
Health officials calculating the rate of cases in hospital settings omitted instances where patients contracted coronavirus between seven and 14 days after admission - despite the fact the virus has an incubation period of up to six days in 95 per cent of cases.
This practice goes directly against official advice to staff to categorised these cases as hospital onset infections, and allowed NHS England to claim that its nosocomial rates - referring to Covid patients infected in hospital - are down to as little as 7.7 per cent.
Troops have been drafted in to set up 80 new vaccination centres in Scotland to strengthen the fightback against coronavirus.
The massive operation will get under way this week with Armed Forces personnel set to identify suitable sites.
Ninety-eight soldiers are being deployed over the next 28 days to prepare locations where NHS Scotland can safely administer the Covid-19 vaccine.
Officials hope the move will free the NHS and local authorities to focus on administering the 900,000 doses of the jab received in January.
Members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guard carry out a reconnaissance before setting up a Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell, Lanarkshire
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