Coronavirus in Scotland: Planned operations down 83% in April
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Wards were emptied to make space for Covid patients
The number of planned operations carried out in Scottish hospitals in April fell by more than 80%, official figures show.
The ISD Scotland, external stats show the extent of the disruption to normal NHS work to cope with the coronavirus outbreak.
Just 3,406 operations took place in April, compared with 20,192 the previous month - an 83.1% reduction.
The figures also show the number of operations carried out was 87.5% down on April 2019.
On Sunday, the Scottish government announced that it was to "gradually restart" NHS services which were suspended because of coronavirus.
The NHS services likely to be prioritised by health boards include:
Cancer services, including referrals and postponed treatments
Expanding treatments for non-cancer urgent inpatients and outpatients
Outpatient therapies such as management of macular degeneration, paediatrics and respiratory services
Mental health support
Blood monitoring and B12 injections.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: "We are taking an evidence-based, cautious and phased approach to resuming services to ensure the virus continues to be suppressed."
But Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: "I am concerned that this framework provides a lack of detail and commitment to dates to reopen services, and a vague approach to moving forward."