A further 46 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Ayrshire.

Following today's update of COVID-19 figures, 503 individuals are confirmed to have the virus in the region.

More specific locations of the cases are unavailable due to patient confidentiality.

There has been a drop in the number of patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus in hospitals in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, with 110 people being treated at facilities at midnight last night.

The same number of people are being taken care of in intensive care - 13 individuals.

The First Minister, who will attend a COBRA meeting later today, said: "My clear advice is we must continue the lockdown measures for at least another three weeks."

At today's virtual First Minister's Questions, Nicola Sturgeon said more than 12,000 health and care workers or their families had been tested across Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon said just under 20 per cent of those had been social care sector staff or their family members.

Yesterday, it was reported a care home in Prestwick had suffered a tragic 16 deaths from the virus.

Ms Sturgeon said: "This is a virus that we know older people are more susceptible to becoming seriously unwell or dying of."

She said it was vital to treat care homes with particular importance.

Scottish Conservatives leader, Jackson Carlaw said a care home owner had told him: "We’re getting warm words from Scottish Government but what we need is concrete action."

Across Scotland, 7,102 people have tested positive and 779 have died having had their results confirmed by a lab.

Yesterday, National Records of Scotland (NRS) announced that, as at April 12, 962 deaths had been registered in Scotland where COVID-19 was mentioned in the death certificate.

Almost a quarter of these deaths occured in care homes.

There have been 67 deaths involving COVID-19 in Ayrshire, according to the NRS figures.

147 NHS Ayrshire and Arran staff have tested positive since March 22.

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