The Scottish Government has recorded more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases and 22 deaths in the past 24 hours.

According to the latest Scottish Government figures, 5,155 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

Of the total cases, there were 265 new cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the past 24 hours, taking the overall number to 561.

Twenty two deaths have been reported of someone who tested positive for the virus over the past 28 days.

The death toll therefore now stands  at 9,746 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Separate figures produced by National Records of Scotland (NRS) which record the number of deaths where Covid was mentioned on a death certificate, put the figure at 12,303 as of December 12.

NRS figures include deaths where “suspected” or “probable” Covid-19 appears on the death certificate.

Of the 61,011 new tests for Covid-19 carried out which reported results in the past 24 hours – 9.1% were positive.

A total of 38 people are currently being treated in intensive care with recently confirmed Covid-19, with 544 in hospital who had recently contracted the virus overall.

The total number of first vaccinations given is 4,364,802 while 3,981,180 people have now received a second dose.

2,254,406 have received a third dose or booster vaccine.