Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Another record number of Covid hospital patients in Scotland for fourth consecutive day

More than 40,000 people have urged the Scottish Government to extend the £500 Covid thank you bonus to all healthcare workers
There are now 2,322 people being treated for the virus in Scotland's hospitals

The number of Covid patients in hospitals across Scotland has hit a record high for the fourth day in a row.

The latest data on Thursday shows there are now 2,322 people being treated in hospital, which is a rise of 65 in the past 24 hours.

Of these, 26 people are in intensive care – one more than yesterday.

A further 50 deaths have also been reported, bringing the total death toll over the past two years to 11,246.

NHS Highland has confirmed seven deaths, while NHS Grampian and NHS Western Isles reported four and one respectively.

Highest case rate in the Western Isles

According to the latest data, there are 13,564 new cases across the country – including 1,562 reinfections.

This is an increase of 1,143 on yesterday’s reported figure.

A total of 6,226 cases were identified using a PCR test, while 6,766 were confirmed with a lateral flow test only.

NHS Western Isles currently has the highest seven day case rate in Scotland – 3,124.5 per 100,000 of the population.

The health board has reported 139 new cases in the past 24 hours.

In an update shared online, they have confirmed spring boosters will start being rolled out to care home residents today.

NHS Grampian has reported the fourth highest daily number of cases in the country, with a total of 1,236.

There are 583 new cases in Aberdeenshire, 469 in Aberdeen City and 184 in Moray.

Meanwhile, NHS Highland has recorded a further 806 new cases, including 215 in Argyll and Bute.

There are 57 new cases in Shetland and 28 in Orkney.

Rolling out fourth vaccine doses

The spring booster vaccine programme is now underway with a total of 56,577 fourth doses administered so far.

The second booster is being offered to people 75 and over, residents in care homes for older people and those with weakened immune systems.

A further 784 people received their third dose of the vaccine in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,445,629.

The latest data shows 72% of over 12s in Scotland have now received three doses.

A total of 4,340,913 people have now had a first dose, while 4,089,448 have also had a second.

Coronavirus in Scotland – track the spread with these charts