Covid-19 coronavirus case numbers jump again in the NHS Highland area
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the region has risen by 42 in the past 24 hours.
Yesterday saw the total increase by 39 while just the day before that the rise was only eight.
NHS Highland announced earlier this week there had been a "rapid" increase in positive cases in the Argyll and Bute area, which also falls under the health board's jurisdiction.
The region’s cumulative number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic has now risen to 5538.
There were 1317 new positive tests for Covid-19 across Scotland since the last update – representing 4.6 per cent of those tests conducted during the past 24 hours.
Some 140 people were receiving treatment for the virus in Scotland’s hospitals last night.
And there were 12 people in intensive care.
Sadly four deaths were reported among people who tested positive for the virus in the previous 28 days.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the north of Scotland, there were again no newly-confirmed cases in NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney or NHS Eileanan Siar.
NHS Grampian’s tally climbed by 74, to 16,049.
And, in NHS Tayside, there were another 161 positive tests – for a running total of 17,084.
There have now been 250,961 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Scotland since the global pandemic started last year.
A total of 3,571,726 Scots have now had their first vaccination injection, while 2,516,066 have received their second jag.