Covid in Scotland: Where are the latest cases?

There have been 129,992 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Scotland and 4,578 people have died following a positive test for the virus, according to Scottish government figures.

This page is updated regularly and analyses the key figures for the coronavirus outbreak in Scotland.

It was last fully updated on 31 December 2020 but some measures were updated at 14:00 on 1 January.

Between 1 and 4 January, the Scottish government will not be publishing a full set of Covid-19 figures.

During this period, only the charts showing confirmed cases and the positivity rate will be updated.

Over the past seven days there have been 11,957 cases detected following a test, with 2,539 confirmed on Friday.

The following chart shows the number of daily confirmed cases after an NHS Scotland or UK government test since 1 August, along with a seven-day average.

The actual number of people infected since February will be far higher than the overall confirmed cases figure, as many people who have Covid-19 are not tested.

Scotland's "second wave" has seen a much bigger surge in the number of cases because many more people are being tested.

The weekly number of positive tests per 100,000 people in each of Scotland's 32 local authorities is now a key indicator of which Covid level a council area will be placed in.

The Scottish government works to a system of thresholds, while also considering other indicators such as hospital admissions when reviewing the levels.

The number of positive cases in each local authority is published daily by Public Health Scotland.

The most recent data often underestimates the number of positive tests as there are sometimes delays before results are recorded, so this chart uses figures from a few days ago.

Looking at the total number of cases by health board, the highest number has been in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, reflecting the fact it is the most populous part of Scotland.

The first coronavirus death in Scotland was reported by NHS Lothian on 13 March and the number of daily deaths peaked on 15 April when 84 were reported.

Over the summer, Scotland went for a long period when there were no deaths following a positive test for Covid-19, but the rate of new deaths rose again in the autumn.

There are three ways to count deaths from Covid-19.

The Scottish government's daily announcement counts deaths within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19, whereas the National Records of Scotland (NRS) counts all death certificates that mention Covid-19, even if the person has not been tested for the virus.

The NRS also publishes monthly data on excess deaths in 2020, compared with a five-year average.

At its peak in the spring, the coronavirus outbreak created a huge load on Scotland's hospitals, with more than 1,500 patients in hospital and over 200 being treated on intensive care wards.

Numbers reduced over the summer, but started to rise steadily again in September.

Only patients who test positive during their current stay in hospital, or in the two weeks before their admission, are counted by the Scottish government as Covid-19 patients.

They are no longer classified as Covid patients after 28 days in hospital or 28 days after their positive test, whichever is later.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the percentage of positive test results is a key measure when assessing the status of a Covid-19 outbreak within a country.

The organisation has stated that if less than 5% of samples from a comprehensive testing system return a positive result over two weeks then it is one indication an epidemic is under control.

Other indications include a continuous decline in hospital admissions and a decline in the number of new deaths over at least three weeks.

This chart shows the "positivity rate" in Scotland since 18 August.

The Scottish government changed the way it measures this rate on 19 October.

Previously, the government calculated it by dividing the number of positive cases with the number of newly-tested individuals each day.

However, it now calculates the rate using the number of positive tests reported each day.

The Scottish government said it changed the method to bring it into line with the WHO's criteria, and because the previous measure was "likely to over-estimate the positivity rate" as more people were repeatedly tested.

The R number, or reproduction number, is a way of rating a disease's ability to spread. It is the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to.

If the reproduction number is higher than one, then the number of cases increases exponentially.

The Scottish government has been monitoring the estimated R number in Scotland since the start of the outbreak.