Scotland is showing "encouraging" signs coronavirus infections are being brought under control, Nicola Sturgeon claimed.
The First Minister and top health officials are "cautiously optimistic" as they monitor new infection figures.
The country was put into a new five-tier alert system this week but the entire central belt and some neighbouring regions were hit with hospitality closures last month.
Another 999 people were confirmed positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, down slightly on recent figures. However, 28 new deaths were registered for people who had tested positive in the past 28 days, and the percentage of positive test results is still high.
Sturgeon, at her daily briefing, continued to stop short of rejecting any further lockdown measures, saying "only a fool rules anything out". But the First Minister said "relatively speaking" Scotland is in a "strong position".
Sturgeon added: "That is, we believe, partly down to the plan we have been following.
"The fact that we acted quickly to control the pandemic in September and October means we are now, we think, seeing some encouraging signs in the figures for new cases."
Sturgeon said the last few weeks "appear to show the increase in cases slowing down", describing this as "good" and "positive". But she said the percentage of people tested who were found to be positive for Covid-19 remained high and stressed "we can't be complacent".
The First Minister said: "The situation we face is a fragile one and we must proceed with great care and caution."
Sturgeon said the Scottish Government will assess "whether we might be starting to see a sustained improvement, leading to a fall in the number of new cases, which is what we are hoping for". But she said alternatively case numbers "may be reaching something of a plateau".
Interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said he has "cautious optimism" for improvement but he warned the 1000 level is still unacceptably high.
It needs to come down before the deeper winter months, he said, suggesting the pandemic could then accelerate "very quickly".
