NHS Highland area records seven new positive tests for Covid-19, taking the region's cumulative total since the beginning of the pandemic above 500; news comes as Scotland recorded 267 fresh coronavirus infections in the past day

SEVEN more people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the NHS Highland area –­ taking the region's cumulative total above 500.

There have now been 501 confirmed cases of the virus detected in the NHS Highland area since the pandemic began earlier this year. The figure is up from 494 yesterday.

Across the whole of Scotland there were 267 newly-detected cases of Covid-19 recorded in the past 24 hours.

But the Scottish Government warned that the figure could be higher "as a result of a backlog of test results accumulated in the UK lab network" and urged people to do everything they could to minimise the spread of the disease.

Forty-eight people were in Scottish hospitals last night with "recently confirmed" Covid-19. This figure does not include those patients who have had the infection but are still receiving treatment in hospital after the coronavirus has left their system.

Six of those 48 people were in intensive care last night with Covid-19. Sadly, one person who has tested positive is reported to have died since the last daily update.

Elsewhere in the north of Scotland, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney and NHS Eileanan Siar recorded no new infections overnight.

But there were nine new cases in NHS Grampian, which has now reported 2026 positive tests since the start of the pandemic.

And NHS Tayside recorded four new infections, to take its cumulative tally to 2213.

There have been 23,016 positive tests across the whole of Scotland this year, more than 3700 of which have been recorded in the past month.

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