IN the last 24 hours more than 40 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the Borders.

The Scottish Government published updated statistics at 2pm today (February 9).

And the data shows that the region has now seen 18,136 cases of COVID-19 since March 2020 – a rise of 43 since yesterday.

There are 29 people in hospital in the Borders with recently confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to the figures – four fewer than yesterday.

The total number of cases in Scotland since the pandemic began now stands at 1,179,974

And last week two coronavirus-related deaths were recorded in the Borders, according to official figures.

Data published at 12pm today by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) shows that from January 31-February 6 there were two deaths recorded in the region where COVID-19 was listed on the death certificate.

There have been 223 deaths in the region since the pandemic began.

Across Scotland there have been 13,058 coronavirus-related deaths since March 2020.