There are more people with Covid being treated in NHS Grampian hospitals today than at any other time since February 3, according to the latest statistics from the Scottish Government.
The most recent figures show 79 people were in north-east hospitals with the virus, an increase of 11 since yesterday and the first time the total has gone above 70 for more than eight months.
Among those patients, seven were being treated at the intensive care unit in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary – the health board’s only ICU – which is two more than yesterday.
The hospital numbers in the NHS Highland area showed a slight decrease, from 26 yesterday to 25 today, and fewer than five people in intensive care.
Across Scotland, the number of people in hospital and ICUs with Covid has been increasing over the past few days, but remains below the level from last month.
There were 32 deaths of people who had recently tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, including one each in the Aberdeenshire, Highland and Moray local authority areas.
Four deaths each were recorded in Glasgow and Fife, which were also the only two council areas in Scotland to record 200 or more new cases.
Aberdeenshire reported the highest number of new cases in the north and north-east, with 109.
There were 92 new cases in the Highlands, 88 in Aberdeen, 29 in Moray, 11 in the Western Isles, two in Orkney and three in Shetland.
The test positivity rate across the country was 7.4%, up slightly from the 7.1% reported yesterday but down from 12.4% on Tuesday.
Almost 80% have had one vaccine dose
Turning to the vaccine rollout, in the past 24 hours 2,912 people have received their first dose while 2,290 were given their second.
This brings the total amount of the Scottish population who have had both doses of the vaccine to more than 71%, while just under 79% have had at least one dose.