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REGIONAL BREAKDOWN: Six new cases of Covid-19 recorded in north and north-east

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A further six cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the north and north-east of Scotland over the past 24 hours.

According to the Scottish Government there has been an increase of five cases in Grampian and one in the Highlands.

The fresh figures bring totals of confirmed cases to 1,250 across Grampian and 336 in the Highlands.

There are no new cases in the islands; the total remains at 54 for Shetland, seven on Orkney and six in the Western Isles.

In Scotland, 104,880 people have been tested for the virus through NHS labs, of these 89,695 were confirmed negative and 15,185 were positive.

As of last night 833 people were being treated in hospital, 28 of whom were in intensive care, with another eight with suspected Covid-19 in intensive care.

Coronavirus has taken 2,291 lives since the pandemic began.

Coronavirus in Scotland – track the spread in these charts and maps

Test and Protect

Nicola Sturgeon used her daily briefing to outline details of the new Test and Protect contact-tracing scheme, which will come into effect from Thursday – the day before Scotland could start to lift some of its lockdown restrictions.

From that date, anyone who has symptoms of coronavirus will be tested and their contacts traced and told to isolate for 14 days.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The aim of Test and Protect is to quickly identify cases of the virus and then act to break the chains of transmission.”

She described the new system as being “an extremely important tool for us in the months ahead”.

Ms Sturgeon added: “It will help us suppress the virus as we slowly ease lockdown restrictions.”

“Test and Protect is a really important tool for us in the period ahead.

“The more effective it is, the more of the lockdown restrictions we will be able to lift.”

15,000 tests a day

The Scottish Government had previously said testing capacity of over 15,000 tests a day would be needed for the new scheme to come into effect, and had set the target of having 2,000 contact tracers in place for the start of June.

Nicola Sturgeon said that testing capacity had been met, with NHS labs and others involved.

The First Minister said while the current estimate was only 700 tracers would be needed at first, she said by the end of this month there would be “a pool of around 2,000 to draw on if necessary”.

She said: “This is a system that will operate at a scale not seen before in Scotland.”

Rights and benefits 

Scottish Government is to publish guidance for employers “making clear they should support any member of staff who is asked to self-isolate through Test and Protect”.

People may be able to work from home if they feel well enough, but bosses should not ask people to go into work under these circumstances, she added.

And the Scottish Government has been in touch with the UK Government to “ensure that employment rights and entitlement to benefits, including Statutory Sick Pay take account of the fact that people might be off work or unable to attend appointments through no fault of their own”.

Being asked to isolate in this way is “something that over the months ahead could happen to any of us on more than one occasion”, Ms Sturgeon said.

Follow below for the key coronavirus updates: