INVERCLYDE'S coronavirus death toll is on the rise again - with the district accounting for a quarter of all registrations across Scotland over the last week.

After a period of three successive weeks where no Covid-19 deaths were registered here, two more have been recorded locally - both in hospital.

It means a total 118 people from the area have now succumbed to the virus.

The district has the worst death rate in Scotland at 15 per 10,000 people.

There were only eight coronavirus deaths registered across the country last week, including the two cases here.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon explained at her briefing this afternoon why the hospital deaths registered in the week to July 26 had not been in the government's daily updates.

She said: "Daily figures record people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid.

"Some people who test positive receive care for more than 28 days afterwards, but sadly, some of them don't manage to recover."