JUST over 1,700 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours amid a delay in figures reported from one of the country’s major testing sites.

The 1,747 new cases come after 2,999 positive tests were recorded on Thursday, a slight increase on the 2,969 registered on Wednesday.

That marked two record highs in a row for the daily infection statistics.

READ MORE: Coronavirus Scotland update: Daily cases hit new high with almost 3,000 recorded

On Friday, the Scottish Government warned Public Health Scotland is “investigating a potential delay in laboratory processing of specimens in the Lighthouse labs” at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

It said on Twitter: “This resulted in specimen numbers being lower than might otherwise been expected by an estimated 800-1,110 cases based on historical reporting patterns.”

The test positivity rate announced on Friday was 6.9%, down from Thursday’s 7.7% and 7.3% the previous day.

A further two deaths were reported in Friday’s Scottish Government figures, taking the total under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 7,708.

There were 188 people in hospital on Thursday with recently confirmed Covid-19 – up 11 in 24 hours – and 16 were in intensive care, down one.

So far, 3,709,801 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 2,647,397 have had their second.

READ MORE: Coronavirus Scotland: 2,969 new cases in 24 hours and five reported deaths

Despite the rise in cases, more countries have been added to Scotland’s international travel green list.

People coming from Malta, Madeira and the Balearics will face no quarantine requirements from 4am on Wednesday.

A number of other destinations – including Tunisia and Uganda – have been added to the red list which requires managed isolation for 10 days on return.