Covid-19: Another person dies as confirmed cases rise to 1384

Another person has died after being diagnosed with coronavirus in Scotland as total cases rise by 139 in a day to 1384.

As of 2pm on Sunday, the death toll among Covid-19 patients has risen by one to 41.

It comes after seven people with the virus were confirmed to have died on Saturday.

A total of 13,889 Covid-19 tests have been carried out in the country with 12,505 Scots testing negative.

Across the UK, total patient deaths have risen to 1228 after passing into four figures over the weekend.

As of 5pm on Saturday, 209 more people had died after being diagnosed with the virus, taking the UK total to 1228 from 1019.

Speaking at Scottish Government press briefing on Sunday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon restated that the figures for confirmed cases in Scotland are believed to be significant underestimates.

The most cases are in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde with 401, a rise of 25 in the last day.

However, the highest number of confirmed cases is reported in the Lothian area, where there are 37 new Covid-19 patients, taking the health board’s total up to 188 – an increase of nearly a quarter.

The most new cases proportionally are found in the Border region, with 15 new cases, increasing the total to 15, a rise of 43%,

There is one fewer case in Forth Valley from Saturday, down to 94 from 95, due to a patient being reassigned to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

There are 19 more cases in Lanarkshire, up to 184, 18 new cases in Ayrshire and Arran, taking the area’s total to 108, three fresh cases in Dumfries and Galloway, on 63, ten more cases in Grampian, up to 62, seven cases in Fife, now on 58, and six cases in Highland, on 42.

NHS Tayside and NHS Shetland remain unchanged in case numbers, on 107 and 27 respectively, while NHS Orkney and NHS Western Isles are yet to report any cases.

Sturgeon said 95 people were in intensive care as of Saturday night with either confirmed or suspected Covid-19.

She said: “We are now at a stage where the number of cases in Scotland is growing quite rapidly.

“That is already putting pressure on the NHS and care services, and it is likely to put even greater pressure on them in future, so we are focusing very hard on preparing our health and care services to deal with that.”

Addressing concerns over a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers, the First Minister said 34 million items have been delivered to hospitals over the last four to six weeks and that health boards now have a “single point of contact for managing PPE distribution”.

Eight weeks’ worth of PPE will be delivered to GP surgeries this week, she added, and additional staff will be employed to meet the demand in the social care sector for the items.

Sturgeon also confirmed that the armed forces are considering establishing a new hospital facility at the Exhibition Centre in Glasgow.

Chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood said during the briefing that “more stringent measures” may need to be put in place if the current lockdown does not reduce the impact of coronavirus.

She said when the “suppression measures” were started just over one week ago “the numbers of cases in Scotland was doubling every three to four days”.

She added: “Within two-to-three weeks of the measures being put in place, we should if the measures are working be able to see a reduction in that doubling time so that the numbers of cases are not increasing as quickly.”

But she said that if things haven’t improved after two to three weeks, “more stringent measures would need to be put in place”.

Scotland is currently conducting around 800 tests for Covid-19 a day but plans to increase capacity to around 3000 a day with the establishment of a new lab in Glasgow.