NICOLA Sturgeon has announced the highest daily number of new coronavirus cases in almost three months.

Another 77 people have contracted Covid-19, representing 1% of all those tested in past 24 hours.

It brings the total number of cases to 19,534 and “underlines the need for continued caution”, Nicola Sturgeon said as she provided an update in the Scottish Parliament.

Some 249 people were in hospital last night with confirmed Covid-19, one more than 24 hours previously.

Of those, two were in intensive care, the same as yesterday.

No further deaths were recorded among confirmed patients, meaning the total remains 2492. However, the latest NRS figures, released yesterday, recorded three deaths linked to coronavirus in the previous week.

Sturgeon told MSPs: “We must never lose sight of the grief and heartbreak caused by every one of those deaths and I want, again, to send my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness.”