A further 15 people have tested positive for coronavirus across Grampian and the Highlands in the past 24 hours.
The total number of confirmed cases has risen by 11 in Grampian from 771 to 782, meanwhile in the Highlands another four has been recorded, bringing its total to 232.
There are currently 158 people in hospital across the region, an increase of 20 since yesterday.
15 people remain in intensive care.
The islands have recorded no new cases since Saturday. There have been 54 positive results in Shetland, six in the Western Isles and seven on Orkney.
As of 2pm today, 51,499 people in Scotland have been tested for the virus with 10,721 cases confirmed positive. Since the outbreak started 1,332 have died, an increase of 70 since yesterday.
As of 2pm today, 51,499 people in Scotland have been tested for #coronavirus
40,728 confirmed negative
10,721 positive1,332 who tested positive have sadly died.
Latest update ➡ https://t.co/kZjGNz2EDe
Health advice ➡ https://t.co/l7rqArB6Qu #COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/jIPVoEH4ut— Scottish Government (@scotgov) April 28, 2020
The figures published on the Scottish Government’s website confirmed 1,7542 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of eight the previous day.
Of these, 126 were in intensive care as of last night.
Increased test capacity
Speaking at her daily briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, said the Scottish Government had been making “steady progress” in increasing testing capacity, going from 350 tests a day, to the target of 3,500, which ministers hope to achieve by the end of this week.
Health boards will now test everyone aged 70 and over who is admitted to hospital for the disease, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Tests for coronavirus are currently done on all patients in intensive care, as well as other hospital patients showing symptoms of the disease.
In addition people who have been referred by the Covid-19 hubs the Scottish Government set up will be tested, along with people in care homes with symptoms, and those being admitted to care homes.
Key workers and their family members can also be tested – with more than 20,000 people in this group having done so.
Setting out why the testing regime was being expanded to hospital patients aged over 70, Ms Sturgeon said: “The virus can have an especially severe impact on older people, so although we don’t usually test people without symptoms because the test isn’t totally reliable in these cases, we do think there could be a benefit in testing older people, both on admission to hospital and at intervals thereafter.”
