Scotland’s Health Secretary has said a national ban on house visits is “one of the options” being considered by the Government.
Jeane Freeman also described a report about new curbs in England lasting for six months as a “more realistic position”.
Governments across the UK are considering new lockdown restrictions as a way of tackling rising coronavirus levels.
The Prime Minister will make a television statement this week and the Scottish Government said an announcement of their own is imminent.
Much of the west of Scotland is already facing greater restrictions than the rest of Scotland after a ban was imposed on house visits.
In an interview with the BBC, Freeman was asked whether extending this policy across the country is the sort of potential measure that could be introduced on a more permanent basis.
She said: “That’s one of the options. The bit about permanence...your listeners shouldn’t hear that as a forever. Any of the measures we put in place, we will try and give an indication about how long we think they need to be in place in order for us to to achieve the result we are trying to achieve.”
It was then put to her a newspaper had reported that curbs for England will last for six months.
She was asked if that was a realistic timeframe, rather than saying any restrictions might be gone again in three weeks.
Freeman replied: “It’s a more realistic position, but we have not yet made all our decisions about the additional measures that we put in place, and how long we believe they will be there for.”
“We will give an indication of timeframe once we have finalised our view on the package of measures.”
It was announced yesterday that there had been another 245 positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland, bringing the total number to 24,371.
