Scotland records 67 new cases of virus in last 24 hours

Scotland has recorded 67 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours.

A total of 39 cases were recorded in the Grampian area and 17 were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the First Minister said at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing.

There have been no deaths registered of people who have tested positive for the virus. It means the number of deaths under this measurement remains at 2491.

The 67 cases recorded represents a net increase of 66 as one of Wednesday’s cases was “de-notified”, Nicola Sturgeon added.

A total of 79 cases have now been associated with an outbreak in Aberdeen, having been 54 on Wednesday and 27 at the start of the week.

The city is back in lockdown following a spike. A further 30 cases are currently being investigated to see if they are linked to the outbreak.

Sturgeon said: “Many of the cases that we’ve seen in recent days are of course linked to outbreaks, such as the one in Aberdeen and the one in Inverclyde last week, but it’s important to say that not all of these cases are linked to outbreaks.

“So we really must be on our guard and recognise what these figures are telling us, which is that this virus is still very much out there and circulating in Scotland.”

The range of the reproduction rate of the virus, the First Minister said, has risen to between 0.6 and one, compared to the most recent estimate of between 0.6 and 0.9.

However, she said that, as the number of cases drop, the reproduction number becomes less reliable.