First Minister says 'no need for alarm' after virus spike

Scotland has recorded 88 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest daily rise in the past week.

The biggest number of new cases came from the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, which saw a rise of 36 from Friday.

Despite the rise in cases, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said there is no need for alarm''.

No new deaths were recorded, according to statistics from the Scottish Government.

Areas where localised outbreaks were being dealt with saw a small increase in new cases, with six in NHS Grampian, seven in Lanarkshire, 11 in Tayside and two in the Scottish Borders.

On Twitter, the First Minister said that the rise in cases is due to an increase in testing, and the proportion of people tested returning positive results remains below 1%.

The increase in cases just now partly reflects a greater volume of testing. Crucially, our positivity rate remains low (below 1% again today). So no need for alarm. But there is a need to be very careful & cautious - it is all very delicately balanced just now,'' she said.

Scientists puzzled that rapid rise in cases in many parts of world not (yet) matched by rise in hospital/ICU admissions/deaths.

Many theories but nothing definitive & it could just be timelag. & rise in ICU numbers here today from 3 to 5 another reminder not to be complacent.

Hard reality is this - #COVID is still out there, still highly infectious and still potentially lethal. We take our eye off the ball, or tell ourselves it's all over, at our peril. Ahead of winter, we must be vigilant and careful. Please follow all the #FACTS advice.''

The number of people in hospital due to Covid-19 rose by three to 258, with five people in intensive care, a rise of two from the previous day.

Saturday's figure for new cases was the highest rise since the previous Saturday, August 22, when a jump of 123 was recorded.

However, Saturday's total is the second highest rise in a single day since May 22, when 113 more people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The statistics come as the Scottish Government is due to release the programme for government, an annual publication detailing their plans for the coming year.

A tweet from the Scottish Government on Friday said the legislative agenda, which will last until the dissolution of parliament next year for the Scottish Parliament elections in May, will focus on the economic and social recovery'' from the pandemic, whilecontinuing to make Scotland the best country in the world in which to grow up, learn, work and live''.