Scotland’s Deputy First Minister and and his cabinet colleague Justice Secretary Keith Brown have both tested positive for Covid.

       John Swinney, who is also the Covid Recovery Secretary in the Scottish Government, announced he had tested positive in a tweet on Wednesday morning.

       The Justice Secretary then posted in response that he too had tested positive for the virus after previously avoiding it.

       It comes in the wake of a record number of Scots catching the virus, with the Office for National Statistics reporting one in 11 people north of the border had Covid in the week ending March 20.

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       While the Scottish cabinet had met as normal on Tuesday, it was confirmed that the meeting had taken place virtually.

       Mr Swinney said: “After two years of avoiding #Covid_19 I tested positive this morning.”

       He added he will be “self-isolating in accordance with the rules” and will try to engage with Scottish Parliament business remotely “if I feel better than I do just now”.

       Mr Brown urged him to “be safe” and said “hopefully you’ll be better soon”.

       The Justice Secretary added: “Like you I’ve avoided it for two years until I had a positive test this morning. Thank goodness for Zoom!”