Summary

  • The number of deaths linked to coronavirus in Scotland is now into triple figures

  • First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, in her daily briefing, confirmed that 126 people have now died - up 50 on yesterday

  • She explained that the big jump in numbers was due to a recalculation of the figures

  • Of the 50 newly recorded deaths, 10 were based on a confirmed lab test which was in keeping with the way daily figures had been reported

  • Ms Sturgeon said the other 40 were cases not previously notified "due to delays in family liaison"

  • The number of infections globally will reach a million within days, the head of the World Health Organization says

  • In the UK, nearly 950,000 people have applied for Universal Credit benefits in the past fortnight

  1. That's it for tonightpublished at 20:28 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    Here's a recap of some of Thursday's developments

    • The total of Covid-19 deaths in Scotland now stands at 126
    • The figure is a big jump from yesterday, but 40 of those deaths occurred in recent days and have only just been included in the official figure.
    • It was announced Labour peer Lord Gordon of Strathblane died on Tuesday, aged 83, reportedly with coronavirus.
    • New guidelines on Personal Protective Equipment have been issued for different health and care settings.
    • A new testing facility is to be operational by mid-April at the University of Glasgow's site on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus, staffed by 500 volunteers.
    • It was confirmed the COP26 climate change conference, due to be held in Glasgow, had been put back a year.
    • Thousands of people took part in this week's Clap for Carers event. Bagpipers were asked to play Scotland the Brave to honour all those playing a key role in the fight against coronavirus.

    We'll be back tomorrow with more live coverage of how the outbreak is affecting Scotland and what is being done to get us through the crisis. Until then, stay safe.

  2. New coronavirus testing facility in Glasgowpublished at 20:22 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    A coronavirus testing facility is to be opened at the University of Glasgow.

    The testing centre is part of a bid to increase the testing capacity across the UK and will be located at the university's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus.

    Testing will begin in mid-April and the facility will be staffed on a 24/7 basis by more than 500 volunteer molecular scientists, technicians and bioinformaticians.

    testing facilityImage source, University of Glasgow
  3. First minister and health secretary join Clap for Carerspublished at 20:16 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  4. Chief medical officer's family join in praise for key workerspublished at 20:12 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    Catherine Calderwood posted a picture of her family joining in the nationwide appreciation of key workers' efforts during the coronavirus crisis.

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  5. 'This one is for all of you'published at 20:05 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  6. Applauding our key workerspublished at 20:04 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  7. New guidance on Personal Protective Equipmentpublished at 19:55 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  8. The Nine to feature First Minister - and The Body Coachpublished at 19:49 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

  9. Rainbow box essential item crowdfunder raises £16kpublished at 19:40 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    Edinburgh nurse Alison Williams set an up an appeal to help patients who had been admitted to hospital without having time to pack items like toiletries, reading glasses, phone chargers or tablet computers.

    With people in isolation, it is hard to get such items delivered.

    "They are very lonely, very isolated, and they've not got that personal contact with family members at home," she told the BBC's Reporting Scotland.

    "That's why I thought it would be great if we could bring tablets into the wards so patients and families can be connected that way.

    Alison Williams

    She launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £500 last Saturday and reached the target within an hour.

    So far it has raised more than £16k to create "rainbow boxes" containing essential items for patients.

  10. How the updated Covid death figures look on a graphpublished at 19:29 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    The Scottish government says 126 people with Covid-19 have now died in Scotland.

    The figure is a big jump on Wednesday - but Nicola Sturgeon explained 40 of the deaths occurred over recent days.

    She said details were only now being released because of a delay in notifying families about deaths via one laboratory.

    This is what the increase in deaths looks like once the new deaths are listed on the correct days.

    Scotland covid deaths

    You can find more charts explaining the spread of coronavirus in Scotland here

  11. Clap countdown is onpublished at 19:14 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

  12. FM: 'I will absolutely be clapping tonight'published at 19:05 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    "I will absolutely be clapping tonight", Nicola Sturgeon told Reporting Scotland.

    She was referring to the "Clap for Carers" initiative at 20:00.

    The first minister added that tonight the Scottish government building St Andrew's House, in Edinburgh, would be lit up blue in support every Thursday night of the pandemic.

    "From the bottom of my heart, I am so thankful to every single person who works in our health and social care services all the time but particularly right now", she added.

  13. Sturgeon: Covid-19 testing 'not a panacea' for pandemicpublished at 18:55 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    Nicola Sturgeon

    First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said coronavirus testing was "not a panacea", as tests only worked on people who currently have symptoms.

    Speaking to Reporting Scotland from St Andrews House in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon said Scotland's testing capacity had been extended "quite rapidly" from under 400 tests to almost 2,000 tests a day within weeks.

    More testing is important but doesn't replace the need for social distancing and other precautions, the first minister added.

    At a later stage in the outbreak, testing would be an important part of the strategy, particularly, she said, when an antibody test became available.

    This test would tell people if they had already had the virus and therefore would have a level of immunity.

    "While testing is important, we've got to be careful that we don't overplay what it can do", Ms Sturgeon added.

    Right now, she said, experts were telling her that if you had symptoms of coronavirus there was as much chance that you had Covid-19 as you had something else

    But in the next few weeks that will change, it will become much more likely that you have coronavirus as it spreads.

  14. Fruit picking recruitment crisispublished at 18:51 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    One of Scotland's biggest fruit farms is facing its biggest ever recruitment challenge due to coronavirus.

    Stewarts of Tayside farms more than 4,000 acres, growing swede, strawberries raspberries and cereals.

    But the Carse of Gowrie firm is now working out how to harvest its crops without hundreds of workers from eastern Europe who usually come for the season.

    Owner Sheena Stewart said: “We are now taking on Brits but they don’t realise how physically demanding the work is and in all weather conditions, therefore, they often don’t return after one or two days.”

  15. Scottish Qualifications Authority: Exams updatepublished at 18:40 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

  16. Cleared for no take off - how the sky has gone quietpublished at 18:36 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post
  17. Fire piper primed for 20:00 tributepublished at 18:31 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

  18. New PPE guidance explainedpublished at 18:27 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

  19. Analysis: What we don't know is importantpublished at 18:19 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    Fiona Walker
    BBC Scotland

    Nicola SturgeonImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Nicola Sturgeon

    The sharp in rise in deaths announced by the first minister today exposes another gap in our knowledge of how this epidemic is advancing.

    The rise in deaths by an additional 40 previously unknown or undeclared cases may be, as was explained, down to a single lab not officially recording the deaths as they happened.

    We are expecting more information on how this number of deaths was missed. Although the chief medical officer told me she was not surprised by the increase, it does seem to mean we are further along the curve monitoring deaths than it previously appeared.

    The Scottish government is now moving to a new definition of coronavirus deaths, relying on details from the National Records of Scotland so that anyone whose death certificate mentions Covid-19 will now be included in the daily totals.

    Today’s figures also underline how much information we don’t know about the people behind the numbers of deaths in Scotland.

    For example, we don’t have a breakdown of ages, gender, how many had underlying conditions, or how long they were in intensive care for. The government says that we are now entering a phase where the number of deaths means that patient confidentiality is no longer such an issue. We are expecting to get much more of this detail next week and a fuller picture of the impact of this pandemic in Scotland.

  20. Glasgow University confirms new Covid-19 testing facilitypublished at 18:13 British Summer Time 2 April 2020

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post