First Minister sounds the alarm over the 'considerable risk' presented by house parties as Scottish R-number appears to be on the rise

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the rate of Covid-19 reproduction in the country could be rising amid a spate of virus clusters.

At today's Scottish Government coronavirus briefing she said an early estimate from last week showed that the R-number had risen as high as 1.3, which could be down to the outbreak in the Aberdeen area where around 180 people are infected.

NHS Orkney is now investigating possible links to the Aberdeen cluster as the islands have close transport links, with 12 people there now infected.

There had been no new deaths from confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Scotland in the past 24 hours but there were 47 new cases – 26 in the NHS Grampian area.

She also called on people to act responsibly when it came to staging house parties, which are difficult to police.

“I want today to express another concern and the basis for this concern is coming through the data now, just as a concern about hospitality is, and that is a concern about house parties," she said.

“I want to stress these present a considerable risk, so please stick to the rules about gatherings.

"No more than eight people from a maximum of three different households should be gathering indoors.”

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