SIXTEEN more people have died in Scotland from Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

Speaking at Holyrood, the First Minister said there have now been 2,310 positive cases confirmed in Scotland - an increase of 317 from the previous day.

There have also been 16 further deaths in Scotland, taking the total up to 76.

Ms Sturgeon added: "Those numbers will of course be a significant under-estimate of the true spread of the virus across the country."

The First Minister confirmed that the Scottish Government has now doubled its intensive care capactiy to 360 beds and work is taking place to quadruple it to 700.

As of last night, there were 1,153 patients in intensive care or hospital care due to Covid-19.

Ms Sturgeon said the number of people in intensive care was 147 as of Wednesday, an increase of almost 100 since the same time last week.

The Scottish Government is "working at pace" to boost its ability to test suspected cases, Ms Sturgeon announced, with the number of tests being done each day sitting at 1,900 - a rise from 750 a few weeks ago.

It is hoped that testing can increase further to 3,500 in the future.