More than 1,700 new Covid cases have been reported across the north and north-east in the past 24 hours.
The latest data shows a total of 1,719 new cases in the Grampian, Highland and Island regions.
NHS Grampian has reported 896 new cases, including 460 in Aberdeenshire, 294 in Aberdeen City and 142 in Moray.
A further 591 cases have been reported by NHS Highland with 181 in Argyll and Bute.
There are 60 new cases in Shetland and 83 in the Western Isles.
NHS Orkney has confirmed 89 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its seven day total to 411.
Orkney Islands Council released a statement yesterday saying the island’s case rate is tracking around four weeks behind mainland Scotland.
Director of public health, Dr Louise Wilson, said it took Orkney 21 months for the total number of positive cases to reach 1,000 cases, another two months to take it to 2,000 cases and just two weeks to get to 3,000 cases.
New cases across Scotland
There are 8,725 new Covid cases across the country, according to the latest data.
A total of 807 of these cases are reinfections.
The data shows 3,644 cases were identified using a PCR test, while 4,729 cases were confirmed with just a lateral flow test.
A further 20 deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid have been confirmed.
Two deaths were reported by both NHS Grampian and NHS Highland.
The number of coronavirus patients in hospitals across Scotland has also risen to 1,226 – 35 more than yesterday.
This includes 16 people who are in intensive care, which is two fewer than the day before.
Vaccination programme
A further 3,335 people have received their third dose or booster in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,437,398.
This means 77% of over 18s in Scotland have now had three doses of the Covid vaccine.
A total of 4,436,867 people have had their first dose, while 4,158,818 have also had their second dose.
NHS Shetland currently has the highest percentage of over 18s to have been given all three doses out of all the health boards in Scotland, with 85.9%.
