Scotland has recorded a further 2,969 cases of Covid in the previous day, making it the highest number of cases recorded in a 24 hour period since the pandemic started.
The rate of coronavirus cases has also continued to soar in Dundee to over 400 per 100,000 population.
But the new high of cases comes after a significant increase in coronavirus tests, almost double the average over the previous seven days.
42,310 new tests for the virus reported a result, with 7.3% of results positive on June 23 compared to an average of 5.4% last week.
196 new cases were reported in Dundee on Wednesday, behind Edinburgh and Glasgow which reported 504 and 326 cases respectively.
It means the city has a case positivity rate of 419.23 per 100,000, up from 333.51 on Tuesday, June 22.
The Scottish Government reported that 170 people were in hospital as of Tuesday, with 18 in intensive care units across the country.
Five additional deaths were recorded, taking the total number of deaths, of patients who had recently tested positive for the virus, to 7,701.
3,681,620 people have received the first dose of the Covid vaccination and 2,617,450 have received their second dose.
Responding to the figures, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the record number of tests gave context to the high increase.
But she added: “If we want to get to end of restrictions on August 9 safely, we should take this increase seriously.”
🧵 THREAD
1/ Another big increase in Covid cases in 🏴 today.
First, some context: a record number of tests were done yesterday, and % positive is down a bit.
BUT…if we want to get to end of restrictions on 9 August safely, we should take this increase seriously.
Why? / https://t.co/kxKhOZRfIs
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 23, 2021
New data was also released by National Records of Scotland revealing the number of deaths linked to coronavirus.
It included cases were the virus was either confirmed by a test or suspected by medical professionals to have contributed to a person’s death.
The data showed that as of June 20, 10,150 deaths related to the virus have been registered in Scotland.
In the week June 14-20, 13 deaths were registered that mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate, an increase of six deaths from the previous week.
There were four deaths in Glasgow City, two deaths in Perth and Kinross and one death in each of Dundee City, Falkirk, Highland, Midlothian, South Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire, and West Lothian.
Pete Whitehouse, NRS Director of Statistical Services, said: “The latest figures show that last week there were 13 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
“Three deaths were aged under 65, two were aged 65-74, and eight were over 75. Five were female and eight were male.
“Ten deaths occurred in hospitals, one occurred in a care home, and two deaths were at home or in a non-institutional setting.”
Coronavirus in Scotland – track the spread in these charts and maps