File photo: AFP

A patient has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Scotland, local government said on Sunday evening in a statement.

This is the first case confirmed in Scotland, and the patient has been admitted to hospital and is currently receiving treatment in isolation, according to the Scottish government.

With the latest reported case in Scotland, the total number of confirmed cases in the UK has risen to 36.

The patient has recently traveled from northern Italy, and clinicians have already begun contact tracing, the process of gathering details of the places they have visited and the people they have been in contact with since returning to the UK.

Earlier on Sunday, Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty said that 12 further patients in England have tested positive for COVID-19.

In light of the situation, the UK government said that it will launch a series of measures to step up its efforts to tackle COVID-19.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the government's COBRA emergency committee as part of this coordinated response on Monday.

COBRA meetings are named after Britain's Cabinet Office Briefing Room A on Whitehall, gathering ministers, civil servants, the police, intelligence officers and others appropriate to whatever they are looking into in an emergency response.

Meanwhile in Finland, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa confirmed another new case of COVID-19 on Sunday evening, taking the country's total infected cases to six.

The new patient is a woman at her working age, according to the district. No more information about her was disclosed.