A further three people have died from coronavirus in Scotland over the last 24 hours.
The Scottish Government confirmed that a further 1,877 new positive cases of Covid-19 were reported overnight.
The total number of people infected in Scotland since the start of the pandemic is now 149,766.
A total of 1,598 people are currently being treated in hospital for the killer bug, while 123 are in intensive care.
The coronavirus death toll in Scotland now stands at 4,968.
The latest figures come the Scottish Government announced that the newly approved Oxford vaccine would be rolled out across Scotland from Monday.
But an adviser to Nicola Sturgeon has claimed the lockdown should continue for another 12 weeks as relying on vaccines is a 'highly risky' strategy.
Professor Devi Sridhar said that while the move may be ‘crude and ‘catastrophic’ for the economy and mental health, a longer lockdown is needed due to soaring virus cases.
She told the Radio Times: “With the numbers we’re at, there’s no other choice.
“For me, it’s a three-phase strategy – first is right now, it’s crude, it’s catastrophic for the economy and for people’s mental health, but a lockdown.
“Get those numbers down, protect the NHS for the next 12 weeks.”
Sridhar added: “When we get into March and hopefully numbers are low again and we get into seasonal change, get your testing and tracing and your border measures in place to really suppress.
“And then in the summer, instead of taking your foot off the gas and saying ‘let’s open up everything’, actually think ‘how do we prevent this winter from happening again?
"How do we actually protect that low prevalence, get emergency teams in place in case there are flare ups… go in, have a quick, sharp one-week lockdown and get your testing and tracing to clear the virus.”
