Nicola Sturgeon has warned Scots not to expect an imminent easing of lockdown measures.
The First Minister said this lunchtime that restrictions, currently in place until May 7, are unlikely to be lifted "in any meaningful way" next week.
Ms Sturgeon stressed that even though the number of patients in intensive care in Scotland has decreased again, she still had to deliver "tough messages".
She said: "I have to be straight with you, it may very well be too early, even this time next week, in any meaningful way, to safely lift any of the current restrictions."
The R number - which measures the number of people each person with Covid-19 passes the virus on to - is understood to have fallen to below one, compared to above three at the start of lockdown.
"That is real and very positive progress," Ms Sturgeon said.
"However, we are not confident that the R number is very far below one yet, and that means any easing up at all in the current restriction, either formally, by government decisions or informally by people becoming a bit less compliant as we all get more and more weary and frustrated would quickly send it back above one."
Her warning comes as a further 60 Scots died overnight taking the death toll to 1,475.
And it was revealed that the number of people venturing on to the roads has also increased.
"In some of our town and city roads traffic has been 10 per cent higher than in the week before," Ms Sturgeon said.
"You might think it is only you making an extra journey, and it is only one trip.
"And you might feel you deserve it after weeks of restraint. Believe me, I really understand all of that.
"But all of it adds up. And if everybody starts easing off, the virus will quickly take off again and it will have devastating consequences for all of us."
