A further 5,951 Covid cases have been confirmed in Scotland as people are again encouraged to take extra care with how many people they mix with this festive period.
Figures have been published by the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) this afternoon as part of the national Covid-19 daily briefing.
Nationally, there are 531 patients being treated in hospital which is down 13 from yesterday. There are currently 34 people with the disease being treated in ICUs.
The number of newly-reported positive coronavirus cases recorded by NHS Ayrshire & Arran has rocketed by 440 to 55,992.
Of the new cases, 187 were from North Ayrshire, 137 in East Ayrshire and 115 attributed to South Ayrshire.
A total of 783,828 positive tests have now been recorded from 3.809 million tests carried out since the start of the pandemic.
According to Public Health Scotland's rolling seven-day infection rate per 100,000 population, West Lothian has the highest rate in the country – at 746.9 as of Wednesday, December 15.
Falkirk has the second-highest infection rate at 710.0 while East Renfrewshire is third with 705.8.
In terms of Ayrshire's local authorities, East Ayrshire's is 639.8; it is 588.5 in North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire's is 497.6.
A total of 18 of Scotland's 32 council regions have an infection rate below the national average of 499.0.
7-day infection rate per 100,000 population for each council area...
196.4 Orkney Islands
253.6 Shetland Islands
263.3 Angus
285.4 Highland
295.0 Dundee City
309.8 Scottish Borders
352.4 Aberdeenshire
372.9 Dumfries & Galloway
382.4 Aberdeen City
393.2 Inverclyde
398.0 Argyll & Bute
418.7 Perth & Kinross
449.1 Na h-Eileanan Siar
449.3 Moray
454.5 Glasgow City
462.1 Clackmannanshire
485.7 Fife
497.6 South Ayrshire
520.8 Stirling
539.2 City of Edinburgh
549.6 East Lothian
573.3 Midlothian
580.7 West Dunbartonshire
585.7 North Lanarkshire
588.5 North Ayrshire
620.4 Renfrewshire
626.2 South Lanarkshire
639.8 East Ayrshire
640.0 East Dunbartonshire
705.8 East Renfrewshire
710.0 Falkirk
746.9 West Lothian
Another 18 deaths mean 9,764 people have passed away since March 2020.
However, data from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) shows 12,303 deaths had been registered up to Sunday, December 12 where the disease was mentioned on the death certificate.
Across the UK, the figure is 146,791 as of last night.
There are 50 patients being treated for the disease in Ayrshire hospitals, which is the same number as yesterday, and fewer than five people in ICUs.
Nationally, a total of 4,366,439 people have received one dose of a Covid vaccine; 3,983,975 are double jabbed and 2,313,843 people have received a third dose/booster.
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