SCOTLAND has recorded more than 17,000 cases of Covid-19, the second-highest daily figure recorded since the start of the pandemic.

The 17,259 new cases of the virus were reported in the Scottish Government's latest daily data for January 4 with a test positivity rate of 35.3% of the 56,290 tests that reported results.

The highest figure ever recorded in Scotland was seen on Monday, January 3 with a total of 20,217.

Data around the deaths of Covid-19 patients was not published on January 4, meaning the official figure still stands at 9858.

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Public Health Scotland advised that there continues to be a large volume of tests still being processed at labs. This, coupled with the holiday weekend, has impacted turnaround times and resulted in delays of results being reported.

The public health body is continuing to monitor the situation.

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 continues to rise with 1147 patients recorded in the latest data, an increase of 116 on the day before.

Of those people, 42 were in intensive care, an increase of four.

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In terms of the vaccination effort, 4,384,343 people have received their first dose and 4,022,821 have received their second dose.

Some 3,006,133 people have received a third dose or booster.