There were 27 new cases of coronavirus in the north and north-east over the past 24 hours, fresh statistics have shown.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Scotland has reached 11,353 as a further 21 were confirmed in Grampian.
Those new cases take Grampian’s total to 834, the Highlands increased by six to 242, there were no new cases in either Shetland, Orkney or the Western Isles, who remain on 51, seven and six respectively.
There are 10 people in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in Grampian, and fewer than five each in the Highlands, Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles.
A total of 1,475 people who tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland have now died.
As of 2pm today, 54,639 people in Scotland have been tested for #coronavirus
43,286 confirmed negative
11,353 positive1,475 patients who tested positive have sadly died.
Latest update ➡️ https://t.co/kZjGNz2EDe
Health advice ➡️ https://t.co/l7rqArB6Qu#COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/y5rod1gbl1— Scottish Government (@scotgov) April 30, 2020
Earlier today, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said next week may be too early to safely lift any of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, the First Minister said “real progress” has been made on tackling the spread of the virus and the R number, or infection rate, is believed to be below one.
This means each person infected with the virus passes it on to less than one other person, and is down from above three at the start of the lockdown.
But Ms Sturgeon warned these gains are too “fragile” to enable her to be confident that lockdown restrictions can be eased at the next review date of May 7, but this will be kept under review over the next week.
She said it is too early to introduce a scheme previously suggested which would allow people to see a small “bubble” of others outside their immediate household, saying “anything like that right now might edge us over the crucial one number”.