First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has appointed a new interim deputy chief medical officer to assist with the coronavirus pandemic.
Professor Marion Bain was formerly the Scottish Government's medical adviser for public health reform, and most recently worked as the director of infection prevention and control in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
An honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Bain has a particular research expertise in the use of routine health information for public health and clinical research.
She will work alongside the other interim deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nicola Steedman, and will support chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith.
Scotland's health secretary announced the appointment today at the latest government briefing on the health crisis in Edinburgh.
Ms Freeman said: "Her appointment will provide additional capacity in that key role and further ensure that we benefit from the very best public health expertise available."
Ms Freeman also announced a raft of new measures which will be introduced this week in the ongoing fight against Covid-19.
The Scottish Government will now have increased powers to step in to care homes "as a last measure" when staff are unable to provide an adequate service due to coronavirus.
And a new contract tracing pilot will be rolled out, which is expected to last two weeks.
This is to allow NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Highland to test out the software which contact tracers will use to collect the information that they need digitally.
