ANOTHER seven people have died in Scotland after contracting for Covid-19, new figures show.
A further 597 cases were also recorded in the past 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 3.8%.
The deaths, recorded among people who first tested positive in the previous 28 days, bring the total under that measurement to 7517.
The daily test positivity rate is down from 4.7% on Monday.
There are 440 people in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus, down seven in 24 hours.
Of those, 42 are in intensive care, an increase of two.
A total of 1,943,507 people have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and 170,892 have received their second dose.
The First Minister also warned there is "no room for complacency” after highlighting a recent rise in case numbers.
The average daily case rate stands at 570 for the last week, compared to 490 for the week before.
This reverses a general trend of declining cases seen since January. The rate of Covid-confirmed deaths is continuing to decline.
Sturgeon said the "less positive" development stood in contrast to good progress with the vaccination programme.
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, she discussed the rising cases as she set out the next steps out of lockdown.
The First Minister said: "The 570 cases per day on average over the past week is up slightly from an average of 490 the week before.
"This is not a massive increase, but it is clearly not the direction of travel we want to see.
"So we will be monitoring it carefully – and taking it as a reminder that we have no room for complacency."
Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnstone quizzed her about the rising case numbers, asking if an increase in cases among under-14s was linked to the return of in-school teaching.
The First Minister said: "If I cast my mind back two or three weeks, we perhaps worried that the increase in cases we would be seeing after the beginning of the return of schools would be bigger than we are looking at right now."
Sturgeon also said "we may see more" cases connected to Rangers fans' celebrations of the club's league win earlier this month.
Chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith has previously noted the rise in cases in and around Glasgow, though he said it was too early to draw firm conclusions about any link to the celebrations.
He told the coronavirus briefing on Monday: "During the interviews that the contact tracing teams are having with people who have tested positive, there are a small number who are revealing that they either took part in those celebrations or were involved in house parties that arose from those as well."
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