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

Sixty-seven new Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the NHS Lothian board area, as a further 56 people with the virus died across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s latest figures, published at 2pm on Saturday April 18th, show an increase of confirmed coronavirus cases in NHS Lothian from 1,1172 to 1,239 since Friday.

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 latest Covid-19 figures for Sotland were revealed this afternoon.

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.

Across Scotland, the number of deaths of people who have tested positive for coronavirus increased from 837 to 893 in the past 24 hours.

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.