Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed new restrictions will almost certainly be introduced in the next "couple of days" in a bid to halt the rise of covid infections.
The First Minister said: "We are preparing to introduce a package of additional measures with the intention of bringing the R number back below 1."
At her daily briefing, Sturgeon said she is willing to allow more time for four nation discussions to take place before reaching a final decision.
She also said she will be speaking to the Prime Minister today and said a UK-wide cobra meeting will take place.
However, she said: "But I will be equally clear that the urgency of this situation means we cannot, must not, and will not, wait too long."
She said the Scottish Cabinet will meet tomorrow, adding that she is clear it must be able to make a decision within 48 hours.
She said: "Additional restrictions will almost certainly be put in place in Scotland over the next couple of days."
Sturgeon's comments came as Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said six months is a “more realistic” time frame for any new Covid-19 restrictions to be in place.
While stating that a final decision on new measures has not been made, Freeman said any new measures were likely to last longer than previously.
Her remarks followed the Times reporting a warning from Downing Street that new restrictions in England could be in place for six months.
Questioned on the BBC on whether the Scottish Government is considering a six-month time frame, Freeman said: “It’s a more realistic position but we have not yet made all of our decisions about the additional measures that we put in place and how long they’ll be there for.”
Previously, when further lockdown measures were put in place in places like Aberdeen after an outbreak, an initial length of restriction was announced, with periodic reviews to track progress.
She added that the Scottish Government has been forthright about previous lockdown measures: “We’re very up front with people about what it is we’re asking them to do and how long we think we’ll be asking them to do that and how often we’ll look at the progress we’re making and report back.
“That will be the case, we’ll give an indication of time frame once we’ve finalised our view on the package of measures.”
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “This is the news that people across Scotland were dreading and it didn’t need to be this way.
“Scottish Labour has consistently urged our governments on both sides of the border to get testing and contact tracing working at scale, but a failure to do so during the first lockdown has hampered our national effort to control the virus and stop it spiralling out of control.
“Every effort must be made to ensure our testing and tracing system is working effectively and that people have the right financial and practical support to allow them to isolate when necessary."
