There have been 6,734 new Covid cases confirmed in Scotland within the last 24 hours as concerns over the impact of the Omicron variant continue to grow.
Data has 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 516 patients being treated in hospital which is up 12 from yesterday. There are currently 38 people with the disease being treated in ICUs.
The number of newly-reported positive coronavirus cases recorded by NHS Ayrshire & Arran has increased by 496 to 57,615.
Of the new cases, 221 were from North Ayrshire, 138 in South Ayrshire and 136 attributed to East Ayrshire.
A total of 806,695 positive tests have now been recorded from 3.851 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 998.3 as of Sunday, December 19.
East Renfrewshire has the second-highest infection rate at 883.8 while City of Edinburgh is third with 873.5.
In terms of Ayrshire's local authorities, North Ayrshire's is 797.0; it is 731.1 in East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire's is 625.1.
A total of 17 of Scotland's 32 council regions have an infection rate below the national average of 665.1.
7-day infection rate per 100,000 population for each council area...
298.2 Highland
306.1 Shetland Islands
344.5 Angus
366.0 Na h-Eileanan Siar
374.3 Dumfries & Galloway
375.0 Orkney Islands
386.2 Scottish Borders
422.7 Dundee City
428.3 Aberdeenshire
430.5 Aberdeen City
496.3 Perth & Kinross
513.9 Inverclyde
547.5 Moray
570.1 Argyll & Bute
589.1 Fife
625.1 South Ayrshire
658.0 Stirling
668.7 Clackmannanshire
684.2 Glasgow City
715.5 East Lothian
731.1 East Ayrshire
768.9 North Lanarkshire
797.0 North Ayrshire
820.3 Falkirk
821.1 East Dunbartonshire
827.5 West Dunbartonshire
844.9 Midlothian
852.8 South Lanarkshire
871.8 Renfrewshire
873.5 City of Edinburgh
883.8 East Renfrewshire
998.3 West Lothian
No further deaths mean 9,781 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 147,218 as of last night.
There are 56 patients being treated for the disease in Ayrshire hospitals, which is a rise of three on yesterday, and fewer than five people in ICUs.
Nationally, a total of 4,372,129 people have received one dose of a Covid vaccine; 3,993,642 are double jabbed and 2,561,480 people have received a third dose/booster.
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
