North Ayrshire has recorded its highest number of deaths related to Covid-19 since February, new figures have confirmed.

Eight lives have been lost to the virus in the area in the latest weekly statistics, the highest amount in eight months when 11 deaths related to Covid-19 were confirmed in Ferbruary.

The latest figures released by the National Records of Scotland cover the period from Monday, October 11 to Sunday, October 17.

The news comes after the local authority area saw eight deaths from Covid the previous week, and saw seven deaths the week prior.

This puts North Ayrshire as the fifth highest death rate area for the past week behind Glasgow, Fife, North Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

North Ayrshire's infection rate has also risen slightly over the past week.

For the week to October 16, North Ayrshire had 470 confirmed positive Covid tests, giving a rate of 350.1 positive tests per 100,000 people.

By comparison, for the week to October 9, North Ayrshire's infection rate was 330.7. cases per 100,000 residents.

And for the week to October 2 the rate stood at 385.8 per 100,000 people.

The number of deaths in North Ayrshire in which Covid was mentioned on the death certificate now stands at 187 since the beginning of this year, and 394 since the start of the pandemic.