Over 1,700 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Scotland in the last 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The 1,707 new positive tests represented 8.3 per cent of all those which returned results, the lowest positivity rate for some days.
The majority (562) of the new cases are in Glasgow, whilst 177 were in the NHS Lothian region.
The First Minister confirmed that the number of people now being treated for the virus in hospital was "significantly above" the peak last year, with 1,829 patients across the country.
This was an increase of 35, whilst eight further admissions to intensive care took the Scottish total to 142.
Nicola Sturgeon also revealed the R number, a measure of how fast the virus is spreading, could be as high as 1.4.
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But she said this does not yet take account of the new restrictions which the government have announced will be in place from Saturday.
It comes as Scots were warned tougher restrictions could still be introduced.
John Swinney said there is still more economic activity happening now than during the first lockdown in March, saying there were "obviously" further restrictions which could be applied.
