No new Covid-19 deaths in Scotland for second day in a row

No new coronavirus deaths have been reported in Scotland for the second day in a row, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

The First Minister said that two successive days without any registered deaths is “very encouraging”.

She added: “I can’t tell you how long I have waited to be able to report such a development and I know all of you will have longed to hear that.”

However, she said it was likely that more deaths from the virus would be reported in the coming days, with a tendency for under-reporting at weekends.

It comes as 18 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total since the pandemic began to 15,639.

There are 40 more people in hospitals across Scotland with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, taking the total to 1042.

Of those, a total of 24 patients are being treated in intensive care, down one on the day before.

Nearly 3800 people who were hospitalised with the virus have been able to be discharged since the pandemic began.

The number of confirmed daily cases has been under 50 for the last six days in a row, with half of Scottish health board areas reporting zero new cases.

The death toll of lab-confirmed coronavirus cases is 2415 in Scotland, but counting presumed Covid-19 deaths the total is 3964.