Scotland has recorded its highest daily increase in Covid cases for almost two months, according the latest Scottish Government statistics.
The total of 546 new cases in the past 24 hours beats the previous March peak, reported six days ago, by more than 110 cases.
Like that previous peak, the positive cases are largely focused in the population centres of the Central Belt, with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reporting 229 in the last day – an increase of 80 on the day before.
However, no new deaths of people with coronavirus were reported, meaning two such deaths have been recorded across the country in the past 12 days.
There are 98 people with Covid currently being treated in Scottish hospitals, an increase of 20 from a week ago, with six of those patients in intensive care.
Relatively low numbers in north and north-east
The number of cases in the north and north-east remains relatively low, as spikes occur in other parts of the country.
NHS Grampian recorded 16 new cases, an increase from 11 yesterday.
They were spread across the north-east, with seven in Aberdeen city, five in Aberdeenshire and three in Moray.
There are currently six people in NHS Grampian hospitals with Covid.
NHS Highland recorded six new cases, of which five were in the Highland Council area, and none were reported on Orkney, Shetland or the Western Isles.
Vaccine roll-out continues
Around Scotland, 49,962 doses of the Covid vaccine were administered – the highest daily number for a month.
That breaks down to 32,595 second doses of the vaccine and 17,367 first doses.
As of today, 3,155,733 people in Scotland have had their first dose while 1,913,809 have had both.
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