ANOTHER 47 people have died in Scotland after contracting Covid-19, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
The deaths, registered in the past 24 hours among people who had tested positive in the previous 28 days, bring the total under that measurement to 4373.
A further 1190 people have also tested positive, with a positivity rate of 5%.
Some 1025 people are in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19, 20 fewer than yesterday.
Of those, 56 are in intensive care, a decrease of four.
The First Minister, providing an update at Holyrood, said the R number is still believed to be around one, though that was a matter of serious concern since new variant increases the infection rate by 0.4.
It comes as National Records of Scotland (NRS) announced the latest weekly figures.
They revealed a total of 6298 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, with 203 deaths relating to Covid-19 registered between December 14 and 20, down by 23 from the previous week.
Of these, the majority were in hospital at 124 (61%), with 71 in care homes and eight at home or in a non-institutional setting.
The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Sturgeon said: "Again, I want to convey my deepest condolences to everyone who has been bereaved."
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