THOUSANDS OF NEW COVID-19 CASES RECORDED
Numbers continue to increase with 61 more deaths
MORE than 2000 new coronavirus cases were recorded in Scotland in the last 24 hours. There were 2160 new positive tested cases recorded in the last 24 hours, 453 more than the figure reported the day before.
Of the total, 636 were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area. It is an increase of more than 100 on the 526 reported on Thursday.
The number of people in hospital increased by 31 to 1860 and there were 131people in intensive care, a decrease of 1.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced there were 61 deaths registered of a person who tested positive for Covid-19 in the previous 28 days.
The latest numbers of people with Covid come as changes to the lockdown rules and law take place from today across Scotland.
Click and collect services will close except for essential goods including clothes, baby equipment, shoes and books. No-one will be allowed to wait indoors for collections.
Takeaway services will only be permitted to be served through a hatch or a doorway, with customers not permitted inside premises.
There will be no drinking in public places anywhere in Scotland.
Employers will be legally required to allow staff to work from home if they can. The vaccination programme continues to make progress with another 16,633 people given the jag.
It means 224,840 people have now been vaccinated with a first dose.
Health officials said a total of 3331 people in Scotland have also received a second dose of their Covid-19 vaccination, 141 more than the 3190 announced on Wednesday.
The programme has reached all eligible residents in care home residents across the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board with first doses now given.
The health board said 6019 residents in 143 care homes for the elderly have received the vaccination so far.
It said: “This represents over 90% of all elderly care home residents within Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire and East Dunbartonshire. A small number of residents were unable to be vaccinated initially, due to issues such as ill health. “
The continued rise in positive cases has prompted a change in the testing of home carers
The Health Secretary announced home carers without any coronavirus symptoms will start to be tested for Covid from Monday.
Testing had been due to begin by the end of March, but Ms Freeman said it has been brought forward given the seriousness of the situation.
It means 85,000 workers providing care to people in their own homes would have access to testing before the end of this month.
The fleet of mobile testing units operated by the Scottish Ambulance Service will be expanded from 18 to
42 units by March.
Ms Freeman said: “These mobile testing units play an important part in making testing more accessible.
“They are, of course, especially useful in rural and remote areas, particularly in the winter months.”