Death toll linked to coronavirus now more than 5000

More than 5000 deaths linked to coronavirus have now been recorded in Scotland.

The total of 5005 includes people who had Covid-19 listed as one of the causes on their death certificate, even if they weren’t tested.

In the past 24 hours, 45 deaths were registered of people who tested positive in the past 28 days – bringing that tally to 3188.

There have been 1212 new cases of coronavirus detected across Scotland since Wednesday – 6.1% of people tested and a total of 77,660 since the pandemic began.

Of the new cases, 474 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 231 in Lanarkshire, and 141 in Lothian.

Hospitals are currently treating 1207 patients, including 98 in intensive care.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the R number in Scotland – the average number of people infected by each person with Covid-19 – was “hovering around one and may actually be slightly below one”.

She said: “That suggests some progress has been made in recent weeks.

“The current tough measures, and people’s compliance with these measures, are undoubtedly having an effect.”

But she said there were still “very significant” regional variations in coronavirus infections.

Sturgeon said there were some local authority areas where “transmission is rising again” – adding these included some parts of the country with less strict restrictions in either level one or Level two under Scotland’s new five-tier system.