ANOTHER 54 people have died in Scotland after contracting Covid-19 as the death toll passed a grim new milestone.

The latest deaths, recorded in the past 24 hours among patients who tested positive in the previous 28 days, bring the total under that measurement to 5023.

Nicola Sturgeon, speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing, said the figures were “particularly distressing” today because the daily measurement death toll has now exceeded 5000.

A further 1875 cases were also recorded, with a positivity rate of 12%. The total number of cases now stands at 153,423.

Some 1717 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed Covid-19, an increase of 53 in 24 hours. Of those, 133 were in intensive care, a rise of seven.

The First Minister said those figures highlight the stress the NHS is under, noting that during the initial peak in April hospital admissions were just over 1500.

Of the new cases, 607 were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 280 in Lanarkshire, 214 in Lothian and 162 in Ayrshire & Arran. The remaining cases are spread across 9 other health board areas.

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Commenting on the latest death statistics, Sturgeon said: "This is obviously always a distressing figure to report to you every day but it's particularly distressing today because the numbers I have just reported take the total number of deaths, under this daily measurement, now to more than 5000.

"Which is another reminder of the heartbreaking toll that this virus has taken and is continuing to take across the country.

"Every single death is causing heartbreak to family, friends, loved ones, and I want again today to convey my thoughts and condolences to everybody who finds themselves in that position."