Scotland has reported 498 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours as the First Minister said today that "greater normality is firmly on the horizon."
Nicola Sturgeon announced the latest figures at Friday's daily briefing, where she was joined by Jason Leitch to answer questions from journalists. She confirmed that she is 'keen' to relax some lockdown rules next week.
Out of the 498 new cases, the FM also stated that they represent 3.1 per cent of those tested for the virus on Thursday. 157 were confirmed to be in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, while 73 are in the NHS Lothian region.
A further 107 cases were reported in Lanarkshire.
Some 666 patients are currently being treated in hospital, a decrease of 52 since yesterday.
And 64 people are also in intensive care units, a drop of three from Thursday.
Sadly, 11 deaths were also recorded overnight, taking the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 7,409.
Vaccination figures now show that 1,717,672 people in Scotland have received their first dose, an increase of 29,064 since yesterday.
It comes as Nicola Sturgeon gave a more detailed update on schools this week, which will now see all pupils have some form of face-to-face learning by March 15.
The First Minister also mentioned that a move out of lockdown could be "accelerated" after Scotland was able to bring down the second peak quicker than expected.
Today she said that she was 'keen' for Scotland to start progressing out of lockdown next week, saying: "I am hopeful that next week we might be able to make some relatively minor but I think important changes to the rules around meeting people outdoors and also how young people are able to interact with their friends outdoors.
"I think it's really important...that we don't get carried away yet, the stay-at-home message needs to stay for a little bit longer so that we don't send our progress into reverse.
"But I'm very keen that within that if we can then we should all get a bit more of an opportunity to see loved ones as the first steps we take to ease out of this lockdown."
Nicola Sturgeon is to update on Scotland's easing of lockdown next Tuesday live from parliament.
You can find all of the latest coronavirus news on our LIVE blog here.
