Coronavirus: Four new deaths as 775 more people infected

Another four people have died with coronavirus in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

Addressing Friday’s Covid-19 briefing, she said there are 775 new infections in Scotland – with 324 in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

The new fatalities take Covid deaths to 14 this week, with the death toll among confirmed virus patients now at 2526.

Counting weekly figures which include people suspected to have died with the virus, or who tested positive for coronavirus more than 28 days before their death, the total is 4271.

Over the course of the pandemic, the number of coronavirus infections in Scotland has now topped 30,000, with Friday’s figure taking the total to 30,687.

The 775 new cases amount to 12.6% of newly-tested Scots, the highest percentage recorded since the Scottish Government began publishing the data in July.

As well as the 324 infections in the Glasgow health board region, there are also 102 cases in Lanarkshire.

Sturgeon said the national Covid incident management team will look at the high numbers of cases in the neighbouring NHS board areas later on Friday.

A further 164 cases have been recorded in Lothian amid a spate of outbreaks nationwide at university campuses, including Napier University in Edinburgh as well as Glasgow, Aberdeen and Abertay universities.

There are 175 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, up by 21 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 19 were in intensive care, up two from the previous day.