Coronavirus infections in Lothian continue to rise but hospital cases down

Confirmed cases of Coronavirus continue to rise in Lothian but the number of those being treated in hospital have gone down. (NIAID-RML via AP)

Official figures released today by Scottish Government show that there are now more than 2,539 people in the area now known to be infected.

However, the number of confirmed or suspected Coronavirus patients in hospital in Lothian has dropped by four to 193.

There are also now 11 confirmed or suspected cases being treated in ICU – down nine cases from last Saturday.

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Nationally, 2,094 lives have now been claimed by the pandemic north of the border with 41 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

The number of residents in care homes suspected of having the virus also continues to rise, with 94 new cases reported overnight. Figures show that 5,069 people living in care home are now thought to have been infected.

Overall, a further 187 people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of Scots known to be infected to 14,447.

The number of people in hospital in Scotland with the virus has gone down by 33 in the past day, with 1,416 patients now suspected of having the disease.

The number of people in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Coronavirus has also gone down, from 71 to 59. Of those, 49 have tested positive.

The UK Government said today that 34,466 people had now died with Coronavirus with the number of recorded fatalities rising 468 in the past 24 hours.