Covid-19 deaths in Scotland rise by 44

A total of 1,559 patients who tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland have now died, an increase of 44 from Friday. Figures from the Scottish Government released on Saturday evening show the number of people who have tested positive for the virus is at 11,927, a rise of 273 from the previous day.

There are 1,674 patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in Scottish hospitals, 135 fewer than Friday's statistics.

Patients in intensive care with confirmed or suspected coronavirus dropped by two to 108.

On May 1, there were 2,921 tests carried out by NHS Scotland in hospitals, care homes or the community - as well as 2,392 drive through and mobile tests carried out by regional testing centres in Scotland.

A total of 568 adult care homes have reported at least one suspected coronavirus case since the start of the outbreak, this is 52% of the adult care homes in Scotland.

The latest figures come after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced an expansion to coronavirus testing north of the border.

There will be expanded testing of care home staff and residents, with all over-65s who show symptoms of the virus also being tested.

She set a target for testing capacity to increase to 10,500 by the end of next week, including both Scottish NHS laboratories and the UK Government's testing network.

She said on Friday: This expansion of testing that I set out today is separate and distinct from our move to establish a test, trace, isolate system as part of our approach to changing and hopefully alleviating the lockdown measures.''

The First Minister said she will say more on that strategy next week.