More than 110,000 receive first coronavirus vaccination in Scotland

More than 110,000 people in Scotland have received their first vaccination as of Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The 113,459 figure only encompasses those who have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, with the Oxford/AstraZeneca inoculation being first used on Monday.

The Scottish Government is also halfway through vaccinating residents in care homes, the First Minister said at the daily coronavirus briefing.

“That is extremely important, as you have just heard, more than a third of people who died from Covid last week died in our care homes,” she said.

“We very much hope that the vaccine will very soon start to significantly reduce the risk of care home residents becoming ill with the virus.”

It comes as Scotland recorded 78 deaths of coronavirus patients and 2,649 new cases in the past 24-hour period, according to official figures.

The death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 4,779.

Scottish Government statistics indicate the daily test positivity rate is 11.3%, up from 10.5% on Wednesday when 2,039 positive cases were recorded.

A total of 143,715 people have tested positive in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

There are 1,467 people in hospital confirmed to have Covid-19, up 83 from 1,384 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 100 are in intensive care – up by five on the previous day.

There were a further 660 confirmed cases in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, with 389 in NHS Lanarkshire and 357 in NHS Lothian.

It comes as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said more than 1,100 vaccination sites would be operational across Scotland next week.

Most of these will be GP practices and community premises.

She added that daily numbers of people receiving a jab would be published Monday to Friday from next week.

The First Minister has faced pressure from opposition politicians to ensure figures are regularly published.

A weekly publication by Public Health Scotland will also offer a more detailed breakdown of those who have been vaccinated.

“Vaccination ultimately is what will provide us with a route out of this pandemic, so we are absolutely determined to ensure that as many people as possible are vaccinated just as quickly as it is possible to do so,” the First Minister said.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “We’re pleased to hear that the Government have finally listened to the repeated Scottish Conservative calls for daily vaccination figures.

“Publishing these numbers will increase transparency and give the public confidence that progress is being made in our fight against Covid-19.

“We now need to hear more about how the rollout is progressing across local health boards to prevent any postcode lottery from emerging and to make sure every part of Scotland is getting the same access to the vaccine.”