TWENTY-two coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours, marking the highest daily figure since March.

The fatality figures published daily by the Scottish Government have either been dropping or remaining steady in recent weeks, but Thursday’s figure is the same as that recorded on March 11.

It brings the death toll under the daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 7842.

A further 1825 Covid cases were also confirmed today, taking the total number of positive tests in Scotland to 335,966.

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A total of 488 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed Covid-19, down 41 on the previous day, with 58 patients in intensive care, up seven.

So far, 3,989,927 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 3,028,271 have had their second.

The figures come as Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, said the health service is facing a “really exceptional situation” with people waiting for care and staff absences.

She also warned it “will get worse before it gets better”.