43 new coronavirus cases confirmed in Lothians as Scotland's death toll rises

There have been 43 new confirmed cases of people with coronavirus in the NHS Lothian board area in the past 24 hours.

The latest figures, published by the Scottish Government at 2pm on Monday, show a rise from 534 to 577 Covid-19 cases in the Lothian area.

It comes after Nicola Sturgeon revealed today that the number of people with coronavirus in Scotland has increased by 255 since yesterday, bringing the total to 3,961 cases. However, she said that this was likely to be an underestimate.

The number of Covid-19 cases in Scotland is expected to rise rapdily in the days ahead, says Nicola Sturgeon.

‘Worse to come’

Ms Sturgeon said there have been two more reported deaths in Scotland linked to the virus, bringing the total to 222, but she stressed this figure is “artifically low” and that numbers would likely rise later in the week when more figures become available.

She said: “We expect figures will confirm a trend of rapid increase of Covid-19 cases in Scotland and the number of deaths.

“There’s worse still to come before we turn the corner.”

Ms Sturgeon said that a care worker fro West Dunbartonshire was among the 222 to have died in Scotland.

The First Minister said testing capacity for the virus has quadrupled – to 2,000 tests per day – and that this will keep increasing in the days ahead.

It’s been estimated by health bosses that, at the start of April, about 5,000 NHS workers or their family members had been tested in Scotland.

Retired staff and student volunteers

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman also spoke during Monday’s briefing and said a "huge effort" was being made across health and social care, with 12,725 retired staff and medical and nursing students coming forward as volunteers to help fight the outbreak.

She revealed that 1,370 of those volunteers have registered with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde while 1,700 have registered with NHS Lothian.

Volunteers include returning nurses and doctors, medical students, social care workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, midwives, paramedics and dentists.