Coronavirus: Fifteen more Scots die and 1167 new cases

Fifteen more people have died with coronavirus in Scotland while the country has recorded 1167 new infections overnight.

It takes the death toll among confirmed coronavirus patients to 2609 – but counting weekly figures which include suspected Covid deaths the total is more than 4300.

Saturday’s 15 deaths take the toll this week to 59, making it the deadliest week of the pandemic in Scotland since the last seven days of May.

Of the 1167 new cases in the country, 435 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 346 are in Lanarkshire and 114 are in Lothian.

The latest infections, reported on Saturday, amount to 17.6% of newly-tested Scots.

There are 675 people in hospital with Covid-19 in Scotland, a rise of 46 in the last 24 hours.

Of those, 62 patients are being treated in intensive care, an increase of four.

In a bid to halt the rising cases, pubs and restaurants have been closed in the central belt, and people across Scotland were banned from visiting each other’s homes in September.

Saturday’s statistics take the total number of cases in Scotland over the course of the pandemic to 46,399 – a figure which has nearly doubled in the last month.

A total of 4896 patients hospitalised with the virus have been discharged since March 5.