New figures released by the Scottish Government show a drop in positive Covid cases in both Grampian and Highland, despite the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Positive cases in Grampian dropped from 349 yesterday to 257 in the past 24 hours.
In Highland, the figure dropped from 140 to 96 new cases.
The Western Isles recorded nine, Shetland four and Orkney two new cases.
However, cases rose slightly overall from 3,060 to 3,077 across Scotland.
A further 11 people have died, including one in Aberdeenshire.
Hospitalisations
While positive cases of Covid-19 have dropped in the past 24 hours, the number of people in hospital has risen from 576 to 582.
The number of people in intensive care has also increased by three to 41 in the past 24 hours.
As of December 8, there have been no hospitalisations in Scotland linked to the “more transmissible” Omicron variant.
Public Health Scotland revealed that there have been reports of 389 confirmed or possible Omicron cases in Scotland.
However, it was also revealed that nearly half of all cases are within the 20 to 39 age range. Between the first week of December, 108 cases of Omicron were detected.
Nicola Sturgeon commented on Tuesday that she expects numbers of Omicron cases to rise over the coming weeks.
John Swinney made clear to the BBC that tougher restrictions would be imposed if the spread of the new variant becomes uncontrollable.
Vaccinations
While it is not yet known how effective the vaccines are on the Omicron variant, doses continue to be administered.
A total of 4,357,567 people have received their first dose of a Covid vaccination, while 3,965,437 have received their second dose.
Another 38,984 have received a booster jab taking the total to 1,961,588.
NHS Grampian has administered booster doses to over 73% of over-50s, while in Highland the figure is 77%.
All 14 health boards have given at least two doses of a Covid vaccine to 80% of their populations.
