A special investigation unit probing coronavirus-linked deaths is looking into 827 cases in Scottish hospitals.

The Crown Office set up the Covid Deaths Investigation Team (CDIT), which is working with Police Scotland and other agencies, in light of “significant public anxiety”.

The prosecution service is considering cases where the deceased was a resident in a care home when they caught the virus but it has also received hundreds of reports of deaths linked to hospitals.

Doctors must report deaths to the Procurator Fiscal when a person had or is thought to have had Covid-19 and was in medical care.