Death toll hits six- month high

DEATHS of coronavirus patients reached a six- month high yesterday with one of the country’s top health bosses warning it was “not the time to take our foot off the brakes”.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed 64 people had passed away from confirmed Covid- 19 in the past 24 hours.

It is highest total since May and took the death toll in the country to 3143 – coming in a week when Glasgow narrowly avoided being placed into tougher restrictions.

Scotland’s national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said the figure highlighted the need to stick to the rules.

He said: “This is not the time to take our foot off the brakes. It is the time to be restrictive and that’s why we can’t go into each other’s homes.”

In Glasgow’s health board, a further 488 people were found to have tested positive for Covid- 19, nearly double the figure recorded the previous day.

However, Sturgeon emphasised existing measures were working to slow the virus’s spread.

The First Minister said: “It may not seem like it, but the fact is the measures we have adopted in recent weeks have been having an effect.

“There’s no doubt when we look at the data that these measures have slowed the rate at which cases were increasing.

“We cannot yet be sure we are seeing a sustained fall. We need to see cases come down overall.”

Meanwhile, Sturgeon urged those celebrating Diwali to do so in a

“different way” on the eve of the religious festival.

One of the major dates on the calendar for Glasgow’s Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jain community, the five- day event begins on Saturday.

She said: “This will be a very different Diwali from those that you are used to. I know how difficult that will be.”