NHS Highland area records two new positive tests for Covid-19

Two new cases of Covid-19 have been detected in the NHS Highland area in the past 24 hours, it has been revealed.

The cumulative number of positive tests in the region since the start of the pandemic rose to 388 when the latest daily update was published this afternoon.

The news came against a backdrop of 52 newly-confirmed Covid-19 cases across the whole of Scotland in the past 24 hours.

The number of people requiring hospital treatment for the virus also rose very slightly ­- up two to 269.

But there was better news elsewhere, with the country's long run without any confirmed Covid-19 deaths continuing for yet another day.

And the number of people in intensive care with the coronavirus remained unchanged on three.

In the north of Scotland, NHS Grampian continued to record the lion's share of new Scottish cases ­– with 27 of today's 52 positive tests all falling within that health board area. There have now been more than 250 new cases of the virus in the Grampian area since the start of August – with many linked to a hotspot in and around Aberdeen.

Elsewhere in the north, NHS Shetland registered an increase in its number of cases for the second time in 48 hours, after its cumulative number of cases since the start of the pandemic rose by one, to 56.

NHS Tayside also registered two new cases to bring its total to 1811, although Orkney and NHS Eileanan Siar's case loads remained unchanged.

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