ANOTHER six people have died in Scotland after contracting Covid-19, the latest figures reveal.

A further 542 cases were also recorded in the past 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 2.1%.

The latest deaths, recorded among people who had tested positive in the past 28 days, bring the total under that measurement to 7602.

Some 237 people are in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus.

Of those, 21 are in intensive care.

Public Health Scotland said 2,463,069 people have now received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 354,756 have received the second dose.

Nicola Sturgeon, responding to the new daily figures, tweeted: “Really important for us all to take care and keep the virus under control, so we can secure our path out of lockdown.”

Meanwhile, National Records of Scotland (NRS) has published the latest weekly statistics.

They show a total of 9,958 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus.

Some 61 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between March 22 and March 28, down five on the previous week.

Of these, the majority happened in hospital at 43, with five in care homes and 13 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.