More than 5,000 people in Scotland receive first dose of Covid jag
Nicola Sturgeon has given the first weekly update on vaccination number in Scotland
More than 5,000 people have received their first dose of a vaccine against Covid-19 in Scotland.
Vaccinations have taken place in all health board areas across Scotland since Tuesday - apart from Shetland and the Western Isles, where programmes will begin this week.
Updating MSPs at Holyrood, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also confirmed the death toll from the virus has risen above 4,000.
“Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday a total of 5,330 people in Scotland received the first dose of the vaccine,” Ms Sturgeon said.
She thanked all those involved in ensuring the vaccination campaign “got off to a positive start”.
The First Minister said: “This is a major undertaking with some very significant logistical challenges involved.”
Weekly updates will now be published showing how many Scots have been given the Pfizer/BioNTech injections, she added.
MS Sturgeon told MSPs: “We can all be hopeful the start of vaccinations does mark the beginning of the end of the pandemic for Scotland.
“But the coming months will still be really difficult and all of us should do everything we can to keep ourselves and loved ones safe.
“We see in other parts of the UK just now that as restrictions have eased case numbers have started to rise again and that is a real risk we face here, too.
“The only way to mitigate against it is for all of us to be ultra cautious and careful, and stick rigidly to the rules.”
Scotland has recorded 50 coronavirus deaths and 933 positive tests in the past 24 hours.
It brings the death toll under this measure - of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days - to 4,039.
But data released by the National Records of Scotland on Wednesday shows 5,868 people have died with confirmed or suspected coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Ms Sturgeon said the latest data shows the R number - the average number of people infected by each person with Covid-19 - had “fallen further below one”.
She said this highlights the restrictions in place are “having the desired effect”.
But with 16 local authority areas moving down a level in Scotland's multi-tier system, including the 11 areas leaving the toughest Level 4 restrictions, she stressed the need for caution.