Covid: Scotland records a further 60 virus deaths
- Published
Scotland has recorded a further 60 deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus.
It brings the death toll under this measure - testing positive for the virus within the previous 28 days - to 6,100.
Saturday's figures show a slight drop in the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19.
Now 1,952 people are in hospital, six fewer than Friday. And 142 people are in intensive care, down by two.
New case numbers also fell, from 1,155 on Friday, to 994 reported on Saturday.
A total of 178,682 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 177,688 the previous day.
The daily test positivity rate is 5.8%, the same figure as the previous 24 hours.
Of the new cases, 331 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 174 in Lanarkshire, and 119 in Lothian.
'Important to take up vaccine appointments'
The first dose of a coronavirus vaccine has now been give to 543,370 people.
The virus programme was boosted on Saturday as NHS Lanarkshire opened the doors in East Kilbride to any over-80s who had not yet received their first dose.
The health board advertised extra appointments at its vaccination centre at the Alistair McCoist Complex for patients of GP practices in the area who were eligible .
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The Scottish government said this week it was "on track" to meet vaccine targets.
First minister Nicola Sturgeon predicted that the "vast majority" in the over-80s group would get the jab by the start of next week - ahead of the 5 February target date.
Public health expert Prof Linda Bauld told BBC News on Saturday that it was important that anyone offered the vaccine should accept it, and not be concerned about which vaccine was offered.
She said: "We should recognise that if we are offered an appointment we should take it up. Its phenomenal the rate science is delivering these vaccines. It was reassuring to hear Novavax is effective against the variant but it is important if someone gets an appointment, they go. If you delay, you are delaying potential protection for yourself."
She said the situation was moving in the right direction, but very slowly.
Prof Linda Bauld said the situation was currently "fragile"
She said: "If you look at case numbers they are definitely declining and over the last few days we have even seen slightly fewer people in hospital and in ICU.
"But you get these population-based estimates of where we are which show around 1 in 55 people in England - over a million people - still have the virus. It is slightly lower in other parts of the the UK.
"It is not a big decline from the previous week, but it does look like it is levelling off. "
She added: "We are making progress but it is very slow progress and remains fragile.
"Sadly the mortality rates are not going to decline for a while so from a public health perspective, unfortunately, we have to continue with the restrictions we currently have to accelerate getting the prevalence and incidence of the disease even lower."
