Coronavirus in Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon has 'serious concerns' over testing backlog which means 70 Covid-19 cases today likely to be lower than real figure

A further 70 people in Scotland have tested positive for coronavirus in the latest 24 hour period – but a testing backlog suggests the real figure is higher.
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stressed the latest daily figures may not be complete with a backlog of processing test results in the UK lab network affecting the reporting of figures - an issue which is being looked at urgently.

Ms Sturgeon urged UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock to share the "full scale and nature of issues they are facing" so her government could assist in alleviating them.

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She said: "I have a very serious concern that the backlog of test results being faced by the UK laboratory network is starting to impact on the timeous reporting of Scottish results."

Nicola Sturgeon delivered her coronavirus briefing on Monday.Nicola Sturgeon delivered her coronavirus briefing on Monday.
Nicola Sturgeon delivered her coronavirus briefing on Monday.

She said the figures currently available show 22,749 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 22,679 the day before. This is 2.7% of newly-tested individuals, down from 3.2% on Sunday.

No deaths of confirmed Covid-19 patients have been recorded in the past 24 hours and the number of fatalities under this measure remains at 2,499.

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The rule applies indoors and outdoors and includes settings like people's homes, private gardens, pubs, beer gardens and restaurants.

Previously, up to eight people from three different households were allowed to meet indoors, with 15 people from five households able to meet outside.

Children under the age of 12 do not count towards the maximum rule of six in Scotland.

And there are "some limited exceptions", covering organised sports and places of worship.

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Ms Sturgeon reiterated the need for the public to stick to these rules, with the average number of daily cases trebling in recent weeks.

The First Minister also said more than 900,000 people have now downloaded Scotland's contact tracing app, which allows people to receive a notification if someone they have been in close contact with gets Covid-19.

Ms Sturgeon is particularly keen for students to download the app and encourage others to do so.

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