There have been 542 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Scotland in the past 24 hours. 

According to Scottish Government statistics, there have been six deaths in the same period. 

A total of 21 people are in intensive care with recently confirmed Covid, while 237 people are in hospital.

28,144 new tests were carried out with 2.1% of these being positive.

Public Health Scotland has said 2,463,069 people in the country had received the first dose of a Covid-19.

It added that 354,756 people have received the second dose.

It comes as coronavirus deaths in Scotland continue to fall.

However, the rate of decline is starting to slow, the latest weekly figures show.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) data confirms 9,958 people have now died with confirmed or suspected coronavirus.

Between March 22 and 28, 61 deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, a fall of five from the previous week.

This compares to falls of 39, 38 and 89 deaths over the previous three weeks.

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Double-figure drops were also recorded in each week since January 18-24, when the number of weekly deaths last increased.

On Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned against complacency in fighting Covid-19, saying the data “suggests that the number of new cases having fallen throughout January and February are now plateauing rather than continuing to decline significantly”.

The NRS figures show the majority of coronavirus deaths in the last week took place in hospital, at 43, with 13 at home or in a non-institutional setting and five in care homes.

Around half of the deaths were people aged 75 and over (32), while there were 13 fatalities among those aged under 65.

Deaths from all causes are below average for this time of year for the third week in a row.

Pete Whitehouse, director of statistical services at NRS, said: “It is welcome to report that this is the ninth week in succession where we have seen a fall in the number of Covid-related deaths and it’s the third where there were fewer deaths from all causes, in comparison with the five-year average.”

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The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.

Elsewhere, the NHS Louisa Jordan is set to close on Thursday, with the vaccination centre being moved to the Hydro next week.

Since July 2020, the hospital has played a critical role in the fight against Covid-19.

The hospital has carried out more than 32,000 healthcare appointments, training over 6,900 healthcare staff and students and vaccinating about 175,000 people.

Wednesday will be the last day of outpatient and diagnostic appointments, all training and blood donations.

Vaccinations will continue until April 3 at the current site, and move to the Hydro location within the Scottish Events Campus from April 6.