North of Scotland goes 24 hours without any fresh positive tests for Covid-19; NHS health board figures for Highlands, Grampian, Tayside, Orkney, Shetland and Eileanan Siar were all unchanged from Thursday's coronavirus update

NO fresh positive tests for Covid-19 were recorded anywhere in the north of Scotland in the past 24 hours, official statistics have shown.

The number of confirmed infections in NHS health boards in the Highlands, Grampian, Tayside, Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Herbides all remained static on Friday.

The overall number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the NHS Highland region was unchanged at 341. Also unchanged were the number of those receiving hospital treatment in the area, which stayed static at seven last night.

However, the true number of infections is believed to be higher than the official national statistics.

And while the Highlands and wider north of Scotland recorded no new positive tests, there were 27 fresh positive tests registered across Scotland as a whole in the past 24 hours – taking the overall number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic to 15,709.

Sadly, there were also three new deaths among those who have tested positive, taking the death toll to 2442.

However, the number of people receiving hospital treatment for confirmed Covid-19 fell below the 600 mark – dropping to 590 last night from 613 the day before. The number of those in intensive care remained unchanged at 15.

As well as no new positive tests, NHS Grampian also saw a fall in the number of people receiving hospital treatment for the virus. It has recorded 1288 positive tests since the start of the outbreak, with 58 of those cases receiving treatment at midnight last night. The figure was down two from yesterday's number.

NHS Tayside, which has had 1685 positive tests since the start of the pandemic, was treating five of those people in its hospitals at midnight last night.

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