THREE more Scots have been killed by the coronavirus, while another 39 people have tested positive, bringing the total number of people infected up to 266.

Nicola Sturgeon warned that this was “likely to be an underestimate of the true prevalence” of the outbreak in Scotland.

Two of those infected are inmates at HMP Kilmarnock. The Scottish Prison Service said another 28 people at the jail are “symptomatic”.

Addressing MSPs, the First Minister described the outbreak as being “incredibly difficult and challenging”.

She said: “I don’t want to scare people because, in my experience, if you scare people it’s not very productive.

“But I do want people to understand this is not a drill. This is real. This is happening.

“We all have to take seriously our responsibility to follow the advice.”

She added: “I have never been as acutely aware as I am right now of the inability of Government alone to deal with this challenge.

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“I, as First Minister, will do my best to lead this operation in the months ahead but I need the help of everybody across Scotland.

“So what I can do is share as much information as possible but sometimes that will involve being frank where I don’t know the answer to something immediately or have to be honest that certain things take some time to be put in place.

“This has to be a collective national endeavour.

“It will not be easy but if we do that, all of us pulling together – Government, the public, all parts of the economy and the public sector – then I do have confidence, not withstanding how incredibly difficult and challenging this situation is, that the country will be able to get through it.”

Across the UK the number of people who have died after contracting coronavirus in the UK has jumped to 144.

The new fatalities include a 47-year-old woman – the second youngest British victim.

16 of those were in London – taking the city’s death toll to 52, a third of the UK’s total. Northern Ireland also recorded its first death. The number of confirmed cases rose by 643 to 3,269.

In his daily press conference Boris Johnson insisted the UK “can turn the tide” against coronavirus in the next 12 weeks.

Though he later admitted the government “don’t know how long” the outbreak will last for.

The Prime Minister thanked the country for their sacrifices: “We’re asking students to put their education on hold, we’re asking people not to socialise in the normal way and already we can see the impact this is having on the UK economy and on business, on great, great companies.

“So it’s vital that we in government stand behind them when what we are asking everyone to do is so crucial for saving literally thousands of lives by fighting this virus.” Asked if he was saying UK life could return to normal by the summer, Johnson said: “I am very confident that we’ll get this thing done.

“I am very confident that we’ll beat coronavirus.

“I think we can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks, but it depends on collective, resolute action.

“The encouraging thing is the more disciplined we can all be in doing that, the greater the chances the scientific community will be able soon to come up with fantastic results on testing to say nothing of the other medical treatments.”

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Asked what he meant by “turning the tide”, the Prime Minister said: “At the moment, the disease is proceeding in a way that does not seem yet to be responding to our interventions.

“I believe a combination of the measures that we’re asking the public to take and better testing, scientific progress, will enable us to get on top of it within the next 12 weeks and turn the tide.

“Now, I cannot stand here and tell you by the end of June we will be on the downward slope.

“It’s possible, but I simply can’t say that’s for certain. Of course not.

“We don’t know where we are, we don’t know how long this thing will go on for.”

Johnson denied reports he was preparing to place London in lockdown.