MORE than 70% of Scots who are eligible have had their booster or third dose of the Covid vaccine.

The latest figures show that Scotland reached the milestone today as 72.1% of over 18s who are eligible by December 31 have come forward so far, and more than 70,000 booster or third doses have been given a day over the last two days.

Anyone who has not yet had their booster is still being urged to get "boosted by the bells".

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon responds to latest 'encouraging' Omicron data

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Today’s figures reflect the enormous national effort which is going on right around the country to accelerate our vaccination programme in response to the Omicron variant. I want to thank absolutely everyone who has been involved in the programme, and all the people who have stepped up and come in for their booster.

“There will be vaccination centres open on Christmas Eve, so we want to see as many people as possible getting their booster right up until Christmas. If that isn’t possible for you, centres will be re-opening from Monday 27th, so please book an appointment today, or look out for drop-ins, so you can join the thousands of people who have been boosted by the bells.

"Getting vaccinated is your civic duty, you not only protect yourself, but your loved ones, those you interact with and the country as whole, so please get your booster as soon as you can.”

The eligible figure is based on adults who, by the end of the year, have already had their initial two jags and had their second more than 12 weeks ago.

Across Scotland as a whole, it means that 62.5% of those aged 18 and older have been given the booster.

The news comes as Scotland recorded more than 6000 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours – and seen Wednesday's figures revised upwards by more than 3500.

READ MORE: Scotland records 11 deaths and more than 6000 Covid cases in 24 hours

It means Scotland's cumulative total of coronavirus cases has jumped by almost 10,000 – although the cases were not all recorded in a 24 hour period.

On December 22, the Government reported 2434 new cases, however this was artificially low due to a technical issue at Public Health Scotland. That day's figures have now been corrected and sit at 5967.

On December 23, a further 6215 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded.

This figure represents 12.7% of the 54,863 new tests for the disease that reported results in the past 24 hours.

There have also been 11 new deaths linked to coronavirus recorded. This brings the total under this measure – of people in Scotland who died within 28 days of testing positive – to 9812.

Across Scotland on Wednesday, there were 540 people in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19. There were 38 people in intensive care.