Coronavirus briefing: 15 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours and warnings over travel to Blackpool

The deaths of 15 coronavirus patients have been recorded in the past 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

This takes the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 2,572.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, the First Minister gave an update on the current case numbers, saying that 1,429 people have tested positive in the past 24 hours.

This is 16.4% of newly-tested individuals, down from 17.2% the previous day.

It means that 42,685 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 41,256 the day before.

Of the new cases, 537 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 327 in Lanarkshire, 239 in Lothian, and 92 in Ayrshire and Arran.

There are 570 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, up by 43 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 49 were in intensive care, up by 14.

Half of the people reported in Wednesday’s Covid-19 death figures were under the age of 80 and a “small number” were under 60.

The First Minister said that the figures were a reminders that coronavirus affects people from all age groups.

She said: “Please do not ever think that this virus only poses a risk to the lives of the very elderly.

“It poses a risk to all of us and I’m asking everybody again to take and treat that risk extremely seriously.”

Today also saw the publication of the weekly National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures on Covid deaths.

The deaths of 25 people in Scotland from confirmed or suspected coronavirus were registered in the week up to Sunday.

This is an increase of five on the previous week, taking the total number of deaths under that measurements in Scotland to 4,301.

The NRS death toll differs from the Health Protection Scotland figures published daily by the Scottish Government as the latter counts only patients who have died within 28 days of their first positive Covid-19 test.

Travel warning

If you don’t have to travel, don’t, was the message from the First Minister.

She said that at least 180 people in Scotland who tested positive for Covid-19 in the last month have reported a recent trip to Blackpool.

The First Minister said that a separate incident management team had been set up to deal with those who have travelled between the town and Scotland.

She said: “I need to advise you that trips to Blackpool are now associated with a large and growing number of Covid cases in Scotland.”

She added: “Blackpool is being mentioned in Test and Protect conversations far more than any other location outside of Scotland.”

According to the First Minister, 342 people who were contacted by Test and Protect in the last week after having contracted coronavirus reported travel outside of Scotland, 252 to somewhere else in the UK and 94 had been to Blackpool.

Ms Sturgeon advised those who were looking to travel to the town not to do so, especially to watch this weekend’s Old Firm match in a pub.

The advice given for people who have holidays or trips away planned was that they can do so, but if they could rebook for another time that would be preferable.

Ms Sturgeon also reiterated her regular advice that people should think carefully about booking a holiday during a global pandemic.

Hospital ward reopens

A ward at Scotland’s biggest hospital has reopened after an outbreak of coronavirus among patients and staff.

Positive cases were confirmed at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on Monday, with measures put in place to help stop the virus spreading further.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) confirmed to the PA news agency the ward reopened on Tuesday.

The hospital also houses the Glasgow Lighthouse Lab – one of the UK’s three sites that was launched earlier this year to rapidly expand testing capacity.

Meanwhile, there has been no update on a similar outbreak in a cancer ward at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

As of Monday a “very small number of patients” have died, with NHS Lothian saying the number is under five.

Nine patients and six members of staff had also tested positive for Covid-19 and were self-isolating.