Eight further coronavirus infections confirmed in NHS Highland area; news comes as Scotland records its biggest ever daily increase in Covid-19 cases; First Minister Nicola Sturgeon calls rise 'concerning' and urges people to stick to pandemic restrictions

EIGHT more Covid-19 infections have been recorded in the NHS Highland area ­– on the same day that Scotland saw its biggest ever daily jump in confirmed cases.

Scotland detected a record 486 new positive tests for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

The total is the single biggest daily increase since the beginning of the pandemic, although improved testing rates mean that the real level of virus infections is thought to have been higher during the first wave of the pandemic.

Nevertheless, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the new jump in cases was concerning and said it stressed the need for people to follow coronavirus restrictions in a bid to slow its spread.

Elsewhere in the latest daily update for Scotland, the number of people in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus rose by 10 to 83 overnight. Of those, 10 were being treated in intensive care – a figure unchanged since yesterday.

However, sadly there were two further deaths reported among those who have tested positive for the virus.

In NHS Highland, the cumulative number of positive tests for Covid-19 now stands at 574 – up from 566 at the same point yesterday.

Elsewhere in the north, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney and NHS Eileanan Siar all reported no fresh tests for the virus in the past day.

But NHS Grampian added another 19 confirmed infections, to take its cumulative total since the start of the pandemic to 2140.

And NHS Tayside recorded 14 further cases, for an overall tally of 2294.

Almost half of today's new cases were in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which alone reported 224 infections in the past day. It, neighbouring NHS Lanarkshire (107 positive tests), and NHS Lothian (57) accounted for 388 of the country's 486 new infections.

There have now been 25,495 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Scotland since the start of the outbreak.

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