Confirmed Scots cases of coronavirus rise to 171 from 153

The number of coronavirus cases in Scotland has risen to 171 from 153 the day before.

With 18 more cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, it’s a markedly lower increase of patients compared to recent days.

However, the Scottish Government has warned this is likely due to a change in its approach to Covid-19 testing.

Its policy is no longer to test all those suspected to have the virus but to ramp up “surveillance testing” using survey figures from 200 GP practices around Scotland as well as those tested for the virus in hospitals.

Anyone with symptoms like a dry cough or a fever, however mild they might be, is asked to stay at home for seven days and only to contact their GP or the 111 hotline if their symptoms have not gone by the end of that week, or their condition deteriorates.

The government says, as the new testing system is put in place, the official count of Covid-19 cases could be lower for a time before rising again once the system is fully up and running.

Of the total 4895 coronavirus tests on Scots concluded as of Monday, 171 people tested positive while 4724 tested negative.

One patient from the Lothian region who contracted the virus died last week.

The most cases in the country can be found in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, where 44 people have the illness – a rise of five from the day before.

In the Lothian area there 29 cases, up one, while there are 20 in Lanarkshire, an increase of four.

Tayside has 17 cases (up two), Shetland has 15 (up four) and Grampian has the same number it had on Sunday – 12.

There has been no increase in cases in Forth Valley, which remains on ten, nor in Fife or the Borders, on seven apiece, or the Highlands, still on two.

Ayrshire and Arran has one new patient, taking its total to seven, and there has been the first reported case of Covid-19 in Dumfries and Galloway.

In the UK, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 171 to a total of 1543, with 35 deaths confirmed so far.