Coronavirus: 61 deaths and more than 2000 new cases

There are currently 1860 people being treated in hospital for Covid-19.

Another 61 deaths linked to coronavirus have been registered in Scotland.

More than 2000 new cases of Covid-19 have also been recorded in the past 24 hours, the health secretary said.

Meanwhile, 1860 people are currently being treated in hospital, including 141 in intensive care.

The death toll of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days is now 5227, however including deaths where Covid was a factor, the tally is more than 7000.

Health secretary Jeane Freeman said the daily test positivity rate was 7.5%, down from 8.3% on Wednesday, when 1707 positive cases were recorded.

A total of 159,239 people have tested positive in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

Freeman also announced that, as of Thursday, 224,840 people have received their first dose of a vaccine.

She said testing for care at home workers without any symptoms would begin from Monday.

This had been due to be done by the end of March, she said, but is being brought forward “given the seriousness of the situation we now face”.

Freeman said that 85,000 workers providing care to people in their own homes would have access to testing before the end of this month.

She said putting testing in for such staff, including those who work in day care settings and sheltered housing, had been “complex”.

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