Thread by @theSNP

📺 Watch First Minister @NicolaSturgeon make her daily statement on COVID-19 in Scotland to the @ScotParl and answer questions from MSPs at #FMQs.

⏰ Live from 12:20pm: scottishparliament.tv

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "Hello, everybody. Welcome to today's update. I will start with the usual update on the Covid statistics."

NS: "I can confirm that an additional 67 positive cases were confirmed yesterday, which is 0.5% of people newly tested. It means the total number of cases now is 19,988."

NS: "I can also confirm that a total of 249 patients are in hospital with confirmed Covid, which is 6 more than yesterday. Two people are currently in intensive care - that's an increase of one from yesterday."

NS: "Unfortunately, I also have to report that in the last 24 hours two deaths were reported to Public Health Scotland, ofpatients who first tested positive for COVID. This is the first time any new deaths have been reported in our daily figures since the 16th of July."

NS: "It means that the number of deaths under that measurement is now 2,494. I think all of us have become use to hearing news of no deaths, under these daily figures, these two new deaths are devastating for those who are grieving their loss."

NS: "But they should also be a reminder for all of us that the threat of COVID hasn't gone away."

NS: "We are the only government in the UK to have asked Public Health Scotland to look in detail at the situation of patients in hospital being discharged to care homes... and when we have that information we will make that transparently and fully available to parliament." #FMQs

NS: "It is right that families get answers to any questions that they have, that is why this Government - unlike our counterparts in any other government in the UK - have asked Public Health Scotland to look at these questions and publish their findings in full."

NS: "That is a level of transparency that is not being matched anywhere else in the UK. The Health Secretary has actually written to other UK governments to suggest they do likewise, so we have a full picture in all four nations." #FMQs

NS: "I don't know where Richard Leonard has been, because I've been asking the UK government to continue the furlough job retention scheme almost everyday for weeks. So, I am glad Richard Leonard has now decided to back my call." #FMQs

NS: "In addition, the Scottish Government has set out plans for a youth jobs guarantee scheme and we will set out plans in the coming weeks."

NS: "The furlough scheme is funded by the UK government borrowing money, and the reason they borrow that money is because we don't have the powers to do it in Scotland." #FMQs

NS: "So, what I would say to Richard Leonard is, imagine Scotland was independent right now because he wouldn't need to be asking me to plead with a UK government to extend the furlough scheme because we could do it ourselves like other independent countries." #FMQs

NS: "And it's probably that conclusion that has lead to the situation we have right now, where almost a half of Richard Leonard's remain Labour supporters now support Scotland becoming an independent country." #FMQs

NS: "In the budgets to come, we will use our powers to the fullest effect possible but if we had the powers and resources that other independent countries have at their disposal, we won't be in this position." #FMQs

NS: "The two biggest threats to Scotland's jobs are; the withdrawal of the jobs retention scheme - if we were independent, we wouldn't have to be going cap in hand to the UK government pleading with them to continue it. We could continue it ourselves." #FMQs

NS: "The other big threat is a no-deal Brexit at the end of this year, and if we were independent we would not be facing that prospect either." #FMQs

NS: "Scotland is about to become the only country in the UK that has the Scottish Child Payment. No other government in the UK is getting anywhere near what we are doing to deliver - what poverty campaigners have described as - a game changer on child poverty." #FMQs

NS: "If Richard Leonard would actually start to think about what the real drivers of poverty are, he would stop being Boris Johnson's chief cheerleader in this parliament and actually start standing up for this parliament having the powers we need." #FMQs

NS: "It's the welfare policies, it's the austerity policies of Westminster governments that have driven more children into poverty. We're doing what we can to lift them out, but as long as powers lie with Westminster, we'll be doing it with one hand tied behind our backs." #FMQs

NS: "Like most people across Scotland, I find myself comsumed with sadness, but also with real anger, following the tragic death of Mercy Baguma. First and foremost my thoughts go to her family and friends."

NS: "The exact circumstances of her tragic death are not yet know, and I would support any efforts to establish the facts of this tragic case.

But what I think we can all say, is that the UK asylum system is not just broken, it is deeply inhumane and it must be changed." #FMQs

NS: "People who come here because they need a place of safety should have support, even more so in this time of crisis. Asylum is wholly reserved to Westminster, but this government, as a whole, has repeatedly raised our concerns about the accommodation of asylum seekers." #FMQs

NS: "We need wholesale reform of the UK's asylum system and we need to start from the principles of dignity, of empathy and of support for our fellow human beings who come to this country in need of support at desperate times in their lives." #FMQs

NS: "Nobody should ever face abuse because of a disability or impairment and I am very clear that any form of hate crime, including abuse or prejudice, is totally unacceptable and must not be tolerated." #FMQs

NS: "It is important that schools have access to face covering supplies, as some families might not have the ability to provide that provision so it is important schools have access to supplies to cover that and the Scottish Government is helping to provide that support."

NS: "Comedy is a very important part of our arts sector and the Scottish Government has already provided a range of support initiatives for culture and the arts generally, and many of those support streams have been available to people in the comedy sector as well." #FMQs

NS: "We are in the latter stages of finalising how the remaining £97m of consequentials for arts and culture are going to be allocated. We are going to announce that in the next few days but I would hope that would also give support for those in the comedy sector." #FMQs

NS: "But let me stress, the Scottish Government are very keen to do everything we can to provide the support that is needed because of the importance these kind of venues and artists bring to our health and wellbeing as a country." #FMQs