Scotland records a further 967 cases of coronavirus

Scotland has recorded a further 967 cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

The daily figures for deaths, hospital admissions and intensive care cases have not been reported since Friday.

An update is expected on Tuesday, which will cover the previous four days over the festive period.

On Monday, the Scottish Government said a total of 8819 new tests reported results – with the positivity rate 12.2%.

Scotland has now recorded 120,891 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.

As of December 24, the official death toll in Scotland stood at 4416. However, weekly figures on suspected Covid-19 deaths recorded by National Records of Scotland suggest the most up-to-date total is at least 6298.

Earlier on Monday, the president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow said non-urgent care will have to be paused due to the pandemic.

Dr Jackie Taylor warned that medics would have to focus on “urgent work” and the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine programme before other treatments could take place.

She also claimed there will be a “cost” for allowing household mixing in Scotland on Christmas Day.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Dr Taylor said: “Everybody has been working over the last nine months to try and ensure that we catch up with the backlog, and we will continue to do that.

“But the harsh reality is that some places that are under pressure, some of that non-urgent work will have to be paused.

“We have to focus on urgent work and we have to be able to roll out the vaccination programme.”

Dr Taylor did not condemn the Scottish Government’s decision to relax the rules for a day, but claimed there will be a “cost”.

She said: “We have to remember our humanity and how important it is for some people to have had the ability to be with family even for a short time.

“I think it is absolutely right that the restrictions were only flexed for that day but, inevitably, there will be a cost for this.

“When there is increased mixing we know there is likely to be increased transmission.

“[Scotland’s] levels have never fallen to the kind of levels that we would have wished, so we are starting from a higher base.

“In addition, the new variant strain we are seeing does appear to be significantly more transmissible and that does give us great cause for concern.

“When we add that to the usual winter pressures we are really very anxious for the potential of a further huge surge of cases.”

Dr Taylor urged everyone to avoid household mixing over New Year and to remember the rules of hand washing, social distancing and mask wearing over the festive period.