Scotland records highest number of COVID cases since start of pandemic

Scotland has recorded its highest ever number of new coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic, at 486 positive tests.

Nicola Sturgeon said this was “a real cause for concern” but emphasised this was in part due to more testing being done now than earlier in the year.

The news comes as the UK marks six months since lockdown was started.

The First Minister said: “None of us would have wanted to mark this milestone against the backdrop of new restrictions.

“This weighed heavily on my mind all day yesterday and last night. I know so many yesterday – me included – probably were feeling a bit downhearted that, after all the hard work, we seemed to be back to square one.

“But I want to stress to you today that that is not the case. It is emphatically not the case, although I understand why it might feel like that. The situation now is not the same, in certain respects, as the one we faced in March.”

The local figures indicated the majority of new cases (224) were in within the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Many of these have been linked to an outbreak at Glasgow University.

NHS Lanarkshire recorded 107 new cases, NHS Lothian had 57 and the remaining 98 cases were spread across the other mainland health boards.

Two further deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours following a positive test result.

Elsewhere, the National Records of Scotland confirmed there were 11 deaths involved COVID-19 in the week ending 20 September.