Humza Yousaf has warned that additional covid measures will be put in place in the wake of the threat posed by the Omicron variant.
Scotland's Health Secretary says that restrictions are "inevitable" but declined to give details, saying the Scottish Government is "working through that".
He also confirmed that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will give a full update to the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.
Mr Yousaf was asked if the country should prepare for new measures on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme earlier today.
He said: "I think it's inevitable we will announce additional protective measures.
"I would be reluctant to get into detail on that because we're working through that detail.
"The First Minister will rightly update parliament first tomorrow.
"It is really important that we try to do this with as much support from the Treasury, which hasn't been forthcoming thus far, because we know that of course there's been an impact on businesses.
"We are looking at preventative measures again, and the First Minister will announce detail of that tomorrow."
Mr Yousaf also said the government would "undoubtedly" consider closing schools early, but stressed they were considering the impact of restrictions on young people's mental health.
When asked if schools could be closed early for the Christmas holidays, he said: "The government undoubtedly will consider that.
"There is actually, as we know, not just educational disruption potentially we know the effect that lockdowns, that previous restrictions and preventative and protective measures had on our young people's mental health.
"So that is something we have to consider of course what we need to do in relation to public health.
"So these matters are being considered by Cabinet. The First Minister will give that update tomorrow but we will do everything we possibly can to keep schools open."
