Biggest single day rise in Covid-19 cases in more than two months reported by NHS Highland; health board area detected 11 new coronavirus infections in the past day; news came as Scotland reported 101 freshly-confirmed detections over the past 24 hours

ELEVEN new cases of Covid-19 were detected in the NHS Highland area in the past 24 hours – the biggest single day increase in the region since June.

There have now been 432 confirmed cases of the coronavirus reported in the region since the start of the pandemic.

The sharp rise in cases came after a cluster of infections linked to an abattoir in Grantown-on Spey. Twenty-nine of the cluster's 31 confirmed cases are linked to Millers of Speyside. The meat factory voluntarily ceased all work yesterday for 14 days in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, there were 101 newly-confirmed cases of Covid-19 recorded across Scotland in the past 24 hours ­– taking the cumulative number of cases in the country to 20,889.

One further person who tested positive has sadly died.

The number of people in hospital increased marginally, up one to 259, and those receiving intensive care treatment fell by one, to four.

Elsewhere in the north of Scotland, there were no new cases of Covid-19 detected in Orkney, Shetland or Eileanan Siar.

NHS Grampian, meanwhile, reported six new cases to take its cumulative tally to 1948, and NHS Tayside added four new infections to raise its total to 2151.

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