Coronavirus: 49 more people die as cases reach 13,000

Coronavirus has claimed the lives of another 49 people in Scotland – as positive cases top 13,000.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s press briefing on Friday, Nicola Sturgeon said the death toll of confirmed Covid-19 patients is 1811.

However, including deaths of suspected cases of the virus, the total in Scotland is more than 3000.

The First Minister said there have been 225 new confirmed cases of coronavirus overnight, taking Scotland’s total to 13,149.

But she also revealed more than 3000 people who had coronavirus have been able to leave hospital since the outbreak began.

The latest Scottish Government breakdown shows NHS Grampian – containing the city of Aberdeen – has become the fifth health board area in Scotland to have more than 1000 Covid-19 patients.

Scotland-wide, however, overall hospital admissions for confirmed or suspected Covid-19 are down by three to 1584.

And the numbers in intensive care have fallen by two to 86.

Sturgeon went on to set out Scotland’s current capacity for Covid-19 testing, which has risen to 10,000 tests per day – with the government targeting 12,000 by this time next week.

The Scottish Government has stressed a rigorous policy of mass “test, trace and isolate” (TTI) will be essential to ease lockdown measures, with officials believing a capacity of at least 15,500 tests per day is required.

But the First Minister said guidance will be updated over the weekend likely to ease the restrictions over how much outdoor daily exercise we are allowed.

However, she added: “We are not yet confident that the all-important R number is far enough below one.

“In fact we think the R number here in Scotland may be a bit higher than other parts of the UK.

“That’s why sticking with the lockdown measures at this stage is so important.”

Sturgeon continued: “For now my message to you remains the same: you must stay at home, please stay at home.

“Except for essential purposes such as exercise of buying food or medicines, you should not be going out.

“If you do go out you should be staying more than two metres from other people and you should not be meeting up with other households.

“You should wear a face covering if you are in a shop or on public transport and you should isolate completely if you or someone else in your household has symptoms.”