Coronavirus in Scotland - 60 deaths now confirmed

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There was a steep jump in cases on Tuesday - with 340 new positive Covid-19 tests

The Scottish government said some - but not all - of this increase was due to a delay in receiving weekend results from one test centre.

For the first time cases have been confirmed in Orkney and Lewis in the Western Isles, although these do not appear to be reflected in the latest figures from the government.

You'll find more detail on the statistics here.

Cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Western Isles and Orkney.

The news mean the virus has now been confirmed in all 14 Scottish health board areas.

A single case in Orkney and two in Lewis, in the Western Isles, have been confirmed.

The cases have not yet been reflected in the Scotland-wide figures for confirmed cases.

Nearly 32,000 pieces of protective personal equipment (PPE) have been donated to Glasgow City Council.

The local authority put out a plea for the gear in order to help protect its front line workers amid growing shortages.

Face masks, gloves, aprons and hand sanitiser are among the donations from individuals and organisations.

Glasgow’s Lord Provost Phillip Braat paid tribute to the positive response but said the council was still taking donations as it prepares for a "long haul" lock down.

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Quote Message: On day eight I felt horrendous. The tightness in my chest had got worse. Every time I stood up I felt like I was going to faint. I had palpitations. My heart was racing. from Fiona Young Coronavirus survivor on BBC Reporting Scotland

On day eight I felt horrendous. The tightness in my chest had got worse. Every time I stood up I felt like I was going to faint. I had palpitations. My heart was racing.

Zumba instructor Fiona Young, 42, from Prestwick, was hospitalised eight days after she took ill with Covid-19.

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She told Drivetime the virus left her feeling as if someone was sitting on her chest.

Ms Young, who had no underlying health conditions, said: "I am fit. I think that's what shocked a lot of people. I wouldn't have expected to have got it as bad as I did."

Quote Message: I have never felt like this before. I have never in my life thought about breathing before. It was just different to anything I have ever had. It was really scary and horrible. from Fiona Young Zumba instructor

I have never felt like this before. I have never in my life thought about breathing before. It was just different to anything I have ever had. It was really scary and horrible.

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Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove started by giving an update on the official figures for infections and deaths. He then made a series of announcements:

• He announced that the first thousand new ventilators will come off the production line this weekend
• The government has ordered 10,000 CPAP devices to deliver oxygen before full ventilation is needed
• 1.5 million most vulnerable people are being helped to get food and medicine
• The Army and the RAF are helping the NHS, including flying a critically ill patient from the Shetland Islands to Aberdeen
• He encouraged people to get in touch if they feel they are being made to work in unsafe conditions
• He conceded that the government's testing capacity is being constrained by the supply of specific chemicals, but the government is working with academics and the private sector to increase the number of test centres

NHS England's Stephen Powis gave an update on the medical situation:

• NHS Nightingale hospital at London's Excel Centre will be open to patients at the end of the week
• We "should not read too much into" the plateauing of the numbers of new infections
• Experts hope to see a related plateauing of hospitalisation numbers in the next few weeks - there is a lag
• He emphasised that "green shoots" of better news does not mean restrictions can be eased. He said it is vital people continue with social-distancing
• Testing of NHS staff to see who has the virus is being "ramped up" and NHS trusts are drawing up lists of staff to be tested

Gove, Powis and Harries all emphasised that the aim of the policy is to reduce the spread of the virus and keep serious cases within NHS capacity.

All three said social distancing had to continue and urged people to comply with the rules.

Harries also emphasised that young people are not immune from the serious effects of coronavirus and urged them to stay at home.

Michael Gove says the UK had a lack of domestic manufacturing capacity for mechanical ventilators - vital for treating the poorliest coronavirus patients - before the pandemic.

But he says production has been ramped up hugely in response to an appeal from government.

He suggests thousands of new ventilators will begin "rolling off the production line" this weekend, manufactured by a group of businesses including GKN and Mercedes.

He says these will be "rapidly distributed" to the NHS front line early next week.

UK cabinet minister Michael Gove was asked at his briefing when the peak of the epidemic will come and why Germany has done more tests than the UK.

Mr Gove says the rise in deaths is "deeply shocking, disturbing and moving".

He says there is no "fixed date like Easter" for when we can expect to see a peak and adds reducing that "depends on the actions all of us take".

Dr Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England, says that we will first see a reduction in infections, then a reduction in hospitalisations and then a fall in the number of deaths.

"Green shoots will take a while," he adds.

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Westminster shut down early for Easter and Holyrood is operating on a restricted timetable, meaning politicians are among those now working from home.

Constituency offices are closed to avoid social contact, leaving many parliamentarians performing their roles from kitchen tables and living rooms.

Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, is aged over 70 and started staying at home before lockdown was announced.

He meets his staff virtually via his computer, and is still lobbying the Scottish government on behalf of constituents and local businesses.

He says “I get emails and contacts from social media all the time. I’ve been up since 6am dealing with it."

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When Christine Jardine, the Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, isn’t house-training her new puppy Brora she says she is holding telephone surgeries and working for constituents.

She insists it’s still possible to be an effective MP while housebound: “It takes a wee bit of imagination, a wee bit of flexibility, and also your team all have to be willing to do it.”

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Hospitals across the country are preparing for a rise in Covid-19 cases,

BBC Scotland was given special access to Borders General Hospital as staff there get new coronavirus wards ready.

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Sarah Horan, associate director of nursing, said: "When people are admitted with suspected Covid then we have them in side rooms.

"Once we know they do have Covid - and they have a positive swab result - then it's very safe that we can move them from the side room into one of these six-bedded bays.

"Once you have a positive result, in a healthcare setting, you are not at risk to anyone else who has a positive result.

"So that then means we can care for the patients is a six-bedded area, and keep the side rooms safe for the patients that need them."

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Gareth Clinkscale, hospital manager, said: "We have detailed modelling, that is updated on a daily basis, looking at the activity that is coming in, that we base our bed plans on.

"It is absolutely planning for that worst case scenario.

"The key message is for us is that people need to stay at home. We are hoping social distancing will help flatten that curve."

You can see a full report from the hospital on Reporting Scotland on BBC One at 1830.

In response to a question from ITV's Robert Peston, cabinet minister Michael Gove insists there must be no premature "relaxation or slackening" of the social distancing and isolation measures currently in force.

He says the steps people are taking are crucial to the "united national effort" to limit the number of deaths.

"They are making a difference and we must not let up."

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Dr Marsha Scott told BBC Scotland's Drivetime that the current lockdown situation, which creates more opportunities for domestic violence offenders and makes it harder to support victims, was a "toxic cocktail".

But she said Scottish Women's Aid's domestic abuse and forced marriage helpline is still operating 24/7.

Dr Scott also urged women to take advantage of the charity's web chat facility which allows them to discreetly seek help and advice.

Care provider CrossReach has told Drivetime that its workers need access to PPE to protect staff and the people they look after.

Quote Message: Where care works well it really takes the pressure off the NHS but it can only work well if the workforce get the support they need. That includes ready access to Personal Protective Equipment. from Viv Dickenson Chief Executive of CrossReach

Where care works well it really takes the pressure off the NHS but it can only work well if the workforce get the support they need. That includes ready access to Personal Protective Equipment.

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Lawyer Aamer Anwar has called emergency legislation to allow the most serious criminal trials to be held without a jury an "unacceptable attack on our justice system".

He said 600 years of jury trial before peers was being done away a week after lockdown without real consultation with defence lawyers.

Mr Anwar tweeted: "England isn’t doing it, we didn’t do it in WW1/2 knee jerk- this is summary justice on cheap in most serious cases."

Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said this was "unhelpful language" from Mr Anwar and most of the legal community had been more nuanced.

He said that unless the measure was taken it would mean condemning the accused to indefinite detention with no trial date and prolonging the suffering of the victims.

Michael Gove says the UK had a lack of domestic manufacturing capacity for mechanical ventilators - vital for treating the poorliest coronavirus patients - before the pandemic.

But he says production has been ramped up hugely in response to an appeal from government.

He suggests thousands of new ventilators will begin "rolling off the production line" this weekend, manufactured by a group of businesses including GKN and Mercedes.

He says these will be "rapidly distributed" to the NHS front line early next week.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove says that yesterday the UK recorded the highest single day increase in the number of deaths from coronavirus.

381 people died with Covid-19, meaning, of those hospitalised, the number who have died totals 1,1789