A FURTHER 806 new coronavirus cases have been identified in Scotland over the last 24 hours, the First Minister has said.

Speaking at the Scottish Government daily briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said that figure accounts for 11.5% of all those tests reported yesterday.

Of the new cases 302 were located in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 180 were in Lothian, 91 were in Lanarkshire, 54 were in Grampian, and the rest were spread across nine other health boards.

There was one more person in hospital with Covid-19, taking the total to 123, and 14 in intensive care – two fewer than yesterday.

There were no deaths of patients who received a positive coronavirus test over the past 28 days.

The First Minister addressed the particularly high number of new cases, which came after yesterday’s number “seemed lower than expected”.

Sturgeon said today’s total includes quite a high number of results taken on Friday and Saturday, adding: “That perhaps partly explains the particularly high number of cases we’re seeing today.”

She also said that it is not helpful to compare the current figures to figures from the start of the pandemic because testing has been increased significantly.

The First Minister also spoke about the age groups Covid-19 is being found in. She said while the majority of cases were found in under 40s – and particularly under 25s – “that mustn’t give rise to complacency”.

She explained about a third of today’s cases were identified in the over 40 age group.

She went on: “It is the case that transmission among older age groups is also rising and let’s not pretend that that is not the case.”