Coronavirus latest: Concern as rate of positive tests continue to rise
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Scotland recorded 203 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, equating to 4.4 per cent of newly tested individuals.
A total of 69 of the 203 cases are in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area 30 in Lothian, and 29 in Lanarkshire.
The remaining 75 are across the other eight mainland health board areas, with 10 in Grampian and 10 in Highland.
Speaking at her daily breifing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "We are seeing increasing numbers of places both here in Scotland and across the rest of the UK that are under local and regional restrictions.
"And, many will have woken up this morning to hear the news of the potential for new national restrictions.
"The bottom line here is that the virus is on the rise again.
"Our case numbers are not yet rising as fast as there were back in March, but they are rising again and they are rising quite rapidly.
"The percentage of tests coming back positive is also not anywhere near as high as it was back in March, but again it is rising.
"And as I reported yesterday, the R number we believe is now above 1.
"Across the UK, and this is particularly the case in England right now, hospital admissions are rising.
"ICU admissions are rising too.
"While this is particularly the case in England right now, this should sound a warning signal for us here in Scotland too.
"And, while for the last few weeks, people might have taken comfort from the low levels of older, more vulnerable people contracting the virus, I have to say to you that picture is also beginning to change.
"Recent data shows that the percentage of cases in the older population is now beginning to rise as well.
"Looking more widely, we can observe that in broad terms we might now be, at an earlier stage, on a similar path to that which has been taken in recent weeks by France.
"About four weeks ago, France stood broadly where we do today.
"But now they face around 10,000 new cases per day and hundreds of people in ICU and deaths in France are already rising now as well.
"So our task is to make sure – if we can – that we interrupt that, and we don’t end up where they are now.
"What lies behind this is a simple reality: we are facing the risk again of exponential growth in Covid.
"And we all know from our experience earlier this year what that looks like, and why it is so important to seek to avoid it.
She stressed: "No one wants to see another full-scale lockdown.
"So right now, and I mean right now, today, over the weekend and into next week, that means following all of the rules and the advice currently in place."
"The fact is we know, and this is one of the things we have learned about this virus, is that when it gets into a household, it is very likely to infect everyone in that household.
"So to be blunt, we must do everything we can to keep it out of our households.
"When we do have to interact with others, the last piece of advice I want to remind you of right now, is to remember to follow FACTS: all of the basic things that help us reduce the risks of transmitting the virus.
"These are the current rules and I am asking everybody to please abide by them strictly and rigorously.
"But it may well be that if we are to interrupt and break this growth, we will have to do more over the next few weeks.
"And this weekend will be critical in the assessment of how best to do that.
"As widely reported, SAGE met yesterday.
"I have chaired a meeting of senior Scottish Government officials and advisors this morning to assess the current situation and discussions across the four nations of the UK will, I hope, take place in the coming days.
"I’ve this morning asked the Prime Minister to convene a COBRA meeting over this weekend.
"So, I am today giving the nation advance notice, that the coming days are likely to see some hard but necessary decisions.
"If we want to avoid another full-scale lockdown, which all of us do, doing nothing almost certainly isn’t an option."
