A further 1747 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the last 24 hours, after Scotland experienced two days of record-breaking highs.
But a potential delay in labs processing samples means Friday’s numbers are expected to be missing around 1000 cases.
Public Health Scotland is investigating what has happened to the processing of specimens in the Lighthouse labs, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, which has resulted in a lower than expected number of positive cases being reported.
The Scottish Government said the reported figure of 1747 new cases was lower by an “estimated 800-1110 cases based on historical reporting patterns”.
On Thursday, Scotland reported 2999 new cases in 24 hours, following 2989 on Wednesday – the highest numbers during the pandemic. The previous record was 2649 on January 7, 2021.
A spokesperson for Public Health Scotland said: “The reduced number of results from yesterday is a result of a delay in results from the Glasgow lighthouse laboratory being issued. The laboratory are continuing to issue results as tests are processed whilst investigating the cause of the delay.”
On Friday, the government confirmed another two people have died having tested positive for Covid-19.
The number of people in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus has increased to 188, up from 177 on Thursday, with 16 people being treated in intensive care.
The daily test positivity rate was 6.9%, down from 7.7% the previous day, according to figures published by the Scottish Government on Friday afternoon.
A total of 3,709,801 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 2,647,397 have received their second dose.
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