65 new Covid-19 cases confirmed in Edinburgh and Lothians as Scotland's death toll rises by 58

The Scottish Government’s latest figures, published at 2pm on Friday April 17th, show an increase of confirmed coronavirus cases in NHS Lothian from 1,107 to 1,172 since Thursday.

Data published on Wednesday by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed that 148 people with confirmed or suspected coronavirus had died in the NHS Lothian health board area, between January 1st and Sunday April 12th. This was an increase of 107 deaths since the Sunday before.

The NRS figures are published weekly and include all deaths where someone has Covid-19 on their death certificate, as opposed to the Scottish Government daily figures which cover deaths where someone has tested positive for the virus.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced earlier today that 58 more people in Scotland have died in the previous 24 hours after officially testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 837 deaths.

However, as of April 12th, 962 deaths were registered in Scotland where COVID-19 was mentioned in the death certificate, according to NRS statistics.

Almost 70 per cent of all registered deaths involving Covid-19 to date in Scotland have been people aged 75 or over.

Ms Sturgeon also said during her briefing today that community transmission of the virus seems to be slowing and that lockdown restrictions are working, but that it would be premature to ease them.