The Scottish Government has recorded more than 16,000 new coronavirus cases and five further deaths have been reported overnight.

According to the latest Scottish Government figures, 16,103 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

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

The death toll therefore now stands  at 9,872 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 12,372 as of December 19.

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

Of the 69,327 new tests for Covid-19 carried out which reported results in the past 24 hours – 26.9% were positive.

A total of 42 people are currently being treated in intensive care with recently confirmed Covid-19, with 1,223 in hospital who had recently contracted the virus overall.

The total number of first vaccinations given is 4,385,227 while 4,026,878 people have now received a second dose.

3,016,198 have received a third dose or booster vaccine.