Scotland records more than 5,000 new cases of coronavirus

Scotland has recorded more than 5,000 new cases of coronavirus in what is a record increase since the start of the pandemic.

The sharp rise comes a day after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned the country is at "another fragile and potentially very pivotal moment" in its fight against COVID-19.

Official figures show 5,021 new cases of the virus have been reported in Scotland, with 391 people in hospital confirmed to have it - 44 of whom were receiving treatment in intensive care. Five deaths were also recorded among people who had tested positive. 

The latest statistics also showed there were 47,991 new tests for COVID-19 that reported results, with a positivity rate of 11 per cent.

Sturgeon tweeted this afternoon: "Another sharp rise in number of cases today (tho % positivity is lower than y’day, reflecting more tests).

"Vaccines still protecting against serious illness, but we all need to take care and act in a way that minimises risk of getting/spreading the virus."

Earlier today, John Swinney, the Scottish Government's COVID recovery secretary, said the return of schools following the summer holidays will have "fuelled" the recent increase in the number of cases to some extent.

He told BBC's Good Morning Scotland: "Cases have risen very significantly within Scotland and we are looking closely at why that is the case.

"Undoubtedly the gathering of people together in schools will have fuelled that to some extent, and you can see that in the proportion of younger people who are testing positive."

Yesterday, 4,323 new cases of COVID had been reported in Scotland.

The First Minister said at a briefing: "This is yet another fragile and potentially very pivotal moment in our journey through this pandemic and it is a moment to remember that even though most restrictions have now been lifted the virus is still circulating and we know that the Delta variant is highly transmissible.

"So we need to continue to take care and we need to think about how, in our own behaviours, we can limit the ability of the virus to spread."