A further 46 people have died with coronavirus in Scotland, taking the total to 218, up from 172, according to the latest figures released by the Scottish government.

The figures reveal that 3,345 people have tested positive in Scotland, up 344 from Friday, from a total of 20,798 people tested.

Of the positive tests, 851 are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, 427 are in Lothian, 427 in Lanarkshire and 410 in Tayside.

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A Church of Scotland minister has said her congregation will be "desperately shocked and saddened" by the deaths of 13 people in a Glasgow care home.

Rev Muriel Pearson, minister of Cranhill Parish Church, said members have been visiting residents of Burlington Care Home since it was built.

She said: "We are all thinking of the staff and residents of one of the best care homes where the staff are great and treat the residents like family.

"In days to come we will be able to mourn together and to celebrate the sacrificial caring offered by social care staff and medical staff."

As of 08:30 this morning, the number of registrations to volunteer through the new Scotland Cares campaign, external stood at 50,330.

The campaign launched on Monday, 30 March and more than 21,000 people signed up on the first day.

Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “The response to the Scotland Cares campaign has been outstanding and I want to thank each and every person who has signed up to volunteer during the coronavirus outbreak.

"Your support at this critical time is invaluable and will make a huge difference over the coming weeks and months."

People who are healthy and not at risk can volunteer via the Ready Scotland website.

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New guidance on treating patients with Covid-19 has sparked concerns from a care official that decisions will be made based solely on age.

Dr Donald Macaskill, head of Scottish Care, told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland (GMS) programme he is "profoundly concerned" over a document issued by Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood on the ethical advice and support framework for medics.

He said it does not spell out the criteria on which difficult "life and death" decisions will be made.

"My concern is that ... rather than on a clear ethical framework, decisions will be made on a basis that is unacceptable," Dr Macaskill told GMS.

"Nothing in this document gives me confidence that we will not be putting our clinicians in a position where they have no option but to decide on the basis of age."

The updated guidance published on Friday states: "Patients should be treated as individuals, and not discriminated."

It continues: "No active steps should be taken to shorten or end the life of an individual, however the appropriate clinical decision may be to withdraw life-prolonging or life-sustaining treatment, or change management to deliver end-of-life care."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said they would be "working hard" with the NHS health boards to ensure resources were available to all. She added: "We are clear that we expect everyone - including our elderly and very vulnerable patients - to always continue to be treated with dignity by health and social care professionals."

Professor Jason Leitch, the Scottish Government's national clinical director, says any suggestions that lockdown measures to counter the spread of coronavirus could be lifted by the end of the month are "misguided".

"It is a real balance between keeping everyone at home and keeping everyone safe, and saying we are going to come out the other end," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Off the Ball programme.

"That will come but I don't want to be overly optimistic. We need people to think about this as a long haul. The sooner we control the virus, the sooner we will be out the other end. But it is going to take a while.

"Any suggestion it will be over by Easter or the end of April is misguided...I am hopeful but I don't see any green shoots yet to make me optimistic."

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government has "a huge amount of work to do" to meet its target of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day in the UK.

But how does testing compare across the four UK nations?

Official data suggests testing for coronavirus per head of population in England has been considerably slower so far than that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Across the four nations, the numbers break down as follows:

• Northern Ireland: 395 people tested per 100,000 of population (total 7,525 people tested)
• Scotland: 351 people tested per 100,000 (total 19,535 people tested)
• Wales: 330 people tested per 100,000 (total 10,543 people tested)
• England : 238 people tested per 100,000 (total 136,181 people tested)

Read more on testing across the UK.

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Scottish Secretary Alister Jack is set to return to constituency and Cabinet work on Sunday.

The Dumfries and Galloway MP completes seven days of self-isolation today after working from his rural home near Dumfries.

He said he was feeling "much better" after experiencing a range of symptoms consistent with coronavirus.

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Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has welcomed the election of Sir Keir Starmer as the new leader of the UK Labour Party.

Mr Starmer, 57, will succeed Jeremy Corbyn as opposition leader after defeating Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy in a ballot of party members, trade unionists and registered supporters.

“Keir will make an outstanding leader of the Labour Party and future Prime Minister," said Mr Leonard. "He has the overwhelming support of members right across the party.

“Keir has a fine intellect but has his feet on the ground. He knows what we need to do to change this country, to come through this Covid crisis and to build a better society."

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The Care Inspectorate have said they are in contact with the local health and social care partnership after Burlington Care Home in Cranhill, Glasgow, confirmed 13 residents have died of suspected coronavirus in the past week.

A spokesperson said: "We are aware of the tragic death of residents at this care home as a result of Covid-19.

"Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those affected as well as the the staff and wider community of the home.

"All of Scotland's social care sector is working under very difficult circumstances to care for people during the pandemic and the Care Inspectorate is doing all it can to support them."

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Thousands of Scottish beef producers will benefit from payments worth £40m over the next few weeks, the Scottish government has said.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said the money, which comes from a backdated EU subsidy, would help more than 7,000 farmers and crofters during challenging times.

In September last year, the Chancellor confirmed Scotland would receive £160m from "convergence" payments as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Mr Ewing said 469 convergence payments worth £768,500 had been processed this week, mainly for new entrants to farming, with more payments due to be outlined in the coming weeks.

This was one of the more uplifting moments of the week...

Red wards are for Covid-19 patients, green for non-Covid.

In a place where free beds are usually rare commodities, wards have been emptied.

Operating theatres and recovery rooms are being turned into intensive care facilities in readiness for a rapid rise in cases.

Edinburgh's Western General Hospital has a long history in managing infectious diseases, and was one of the first in Scotland to treat Covid-19 patients.

BBC Scotland's Health Correspondent Lisa Summers took a tour of the wards, and also visited Dundee's biggest hospital, Ninewells, to see how they are preparing for the peak of the coronavirus epidemic.

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Thirteen residents at a Glasgow care home have died in one week after a suspected outbreak of Covid-19.

Staff at Burlington Care Home, Cranhill, said they were "closely monitoring" the health of other people in their care and that "strict protocols" were in place.

All of the deceased residents had underlying health conditions and their families have been made aware.

Two staff members have tested positive and are being treated in hospital.

The care home said tests were not carried out on residents as they are only carried out when people are admitted to hospital.

Read more here.

Image source, SWA

A number of whisky bottling plants which suspended work due to coronavirus are set to reopen.

The GMB Scotland union says facilities owned by Edrington, Inver House and North British have approached staff about coming back to work.

Other firms in the whisky and spirits industry, such as Diageo and Grants, have kept open plants with scaled-back operations.

Trade unions argue that all production should be halted due to Covid-19.

Edrington said a "controlled restart" with a significantly reduced number of staff would allow it to sustain the business and help safeguard employment.

While its bottling facilities in Glasgow and Speyside will re-open on Monday the company's distilleries will remain closed for at least three months.

Read more here.

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An offshore worker airlifted from a North Sea platform after showing symptoms of coronavirus has died at home.

The man, who has not been named, was flown from Total’s Elgin-Franklin platform to Aberdeen on Monday. He died two days later at his home in England.

The cause of death has not been confirmed. A specially-adapted helicopter, designed to carry offshore workers with coronavirus symptoms, was used to fly the worker off the platform.

The man worked for Aberdeen-based oil and gas services company Stork.

The company said: “Sadly, we have been informed of the passing of one of our colleagues at home. Our deepest condolences and sympathies are with his family, friends and teammates. Our main focus now is to provide support to his family and our colleagues at Stork throughout these difficult times.”

A spokeperson for the operator of the Elgin-Franklin platform added: “We have been informed of the sad death at home of one of our contractors. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this difficult time.”

Nicola Sturgeon's cautionary warning over any potential peak of the virus features prominently in Saturday's papers, while one man reveals how he discovered he had a deadly kidney condition after undergoing a test for coronavirus.

Take a look at what other stories are making the headlines this morning.

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of Scotland's response to the Covid-19 crisis on Saturday 4 April.

Nicola Sturgeon firmly dismissed speculation on Friday that special measures and restrictions could begin to be phased out soon.

The first minister said it is not yet known when the peak of the coronavirus epidemic will come, with 172 deaths in Scotland so far and more than 3,000 confirmed cases.

Those figures are likely to be updated later today.