No coronavirus deaths recorded in Scotland for third day

No deaths of recent coronavirus patients have been recorded in Scotland for the third consecutive day.

The death toll in Scotland under the Scottish Government’s daily data measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – remains at 7584.

Previously, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has frequently stressed the number of deaths registered over the weekend can be artificially low as register offices are generally closed then.

The news comes as Covid-19 case rates for each of the four UK nations have dropped to a six-month low, but continue to show signs of levelling off.

In Scotland, the rate currently stands at 70.1, compared with 73.5 a week earlier and 69.5 two weeks ago.

The latest figures come as each nation starts to ease lockdown restrictions that have been in place since the start of the year.

Scotland is to replace its “stay at home” rule with “stay local” from April 2, while in England, two households or up to six people can meet outside from Monday.

Meanwhile the latest data published by the Scottish Government indicates there were 352 positive tests in the past 24 hours.

The daily test positivity rate is 3.2%, up from 2.6% on Sunday.

A total of 217,479 people in Scotland have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.

There are 259 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, down five in 24 hours, and, of these, 22 patients are in intensive care, no change on the previous day.

A total of 2,409,826 people have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 326,263 have received their second dose.