SCOTLAND’S chief medical officer has warned that despite stringent lockdown measures being in place Covid-19 is still being transmitted in communities - as daily reported deaths and cases hit a new high.
A total of 60 people have died from coronavirus in Scotland - up 13 deaths overnight - the biggest rise since the outbreak began.
The number of confirmed reported cases currently sits at 1993, a rise of 430 in 24 hours - more than double the previous daily record for positive Covid-19 diagnoses.
The increase comes as Scotland's chief medical officer revealed the rate at which the coronavirus infection is being spread is higher than had been expected.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced lockdowns to prevent the spread of the deadly virus that has already claimed the lives of over 1,000 people in the UK.
Ms Sturgeon said 108 of the positive tests had come from a lab which was unable to submit data over the weekend. However official stats show that even when removing those, the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 would be 73% up on the previous daily peak.
And chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood said the spike could not just be put down to an increase in testing, which has allowed more key workers to be analysed.
"The proportion of those tests which are positive is increasing day by day," she warned.
"This shows us within Scotland despite how well people are complying with the measures, despite the stringency of those measures, our numbers of cases in Scotland continue to increase.
"We don't know how fast it would increase without these measures.
"I want to emphasise that despite what we are doing, the virus is still being transmitted in our communities. The only group of people we are not seeing sustained transmission in is those that are under 15. This is in common with other countries around the world."
The First Minister said: "As updates like these demonstrated, we are working on a wide spread of fronts to support the NHS and other parts of the economy and society to deal with the many and varied impacts of Covid-19.
"The most important actions are the ones that each and every one of us can take, stayhing at home and limiting contact.
"I hope it won't be too long before we are standing at one of these briefings talking of slowing down of this virus. But we are not yet at that stage. When we are at that stage it will only because people have been doing the right thing by staying at home.
"I ask everyone in the country to stick with it."
A total of 135 patients are now in intensive care, an increase of 27 overnight.
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