Coronavirus in Scotland: 177 cases recorded in the Lothians today as 208,207 vaccinated across the country

Of the new cases, 177 are in NHS Lothian.

Speaking at the start of First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said the daily test positivity rate is 8.3%, down from 10.2% on Wednesday, when 1,949 positive cases were recorded.

A total of 157,079 people have tested positive in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

There are 1,829 people in hospital confirmed to have Covid-19, up by 35 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 142 are in intensive care, up eight in the same period.

Ms Sturgeon also announced 208,207 people in Scotland had received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination as of Wednesday.

The Public Health Scotland statistics indicate an increase of 16,242 on the 191,965 vaccinated 24 hours previously.

On Wednesday it was announced 2,990 had received a second dose, but no figure was given for this on Thursday.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.