Scotland is currently at the "foothills" of a third wave of coronavirus, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Professor Jason Leitch have announced.
Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme earlier today the SNP minister said he was hopeful the wave wouldn't be so severe as the previous ones due to the vaccine programme.
Cases in some parts of Scotland have increased over the last couple of weeks due to the new so-called Indian variant that is believed to be more transmissible than previous strains.
Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that due to the spread of the virus a number of council areas in the central belt would remain at Level 2 lockdown restrictions.
It is hoped by keeping some areas under more restrictions it will stop the spread of the virus which has killed more than 7,000 Scots since last March.
In a bid to stem the spread of the new variant testing has been ramped up in hotspot areas such as the south side of Glasgow.
The vaccine programme has also been rolled out quicker than expected, again to deal with the rise in cases and hospitalisations.
Yousaf said there are some good signs that the link between positive cases and people ending up in hospital has weakened due to the vaccine.
He added: "The big difference between wave one and two is and what we're seeing is possibly the start of week three, is the vaccine.
"I would make no sense whatsoever to ignore that really important fundamental difference.
"We don't want the NHS to be overwhelmed, please bear in mind that if this is the start of a third wave as many experts and clinicians tell us, we are at the foothills.
"We're not the peak of the wave. So we are seeing hospital admissions in excess of 100 people already in our hospitals, at an early stage of this third wave, and we still have the peak of the wave to get through.
"What we don't know entirely, though we are seeing good signs, is the link between that positive cases and hospitalisation weakening."
Professor Jason Leitch, the National Clinical Director, told BBC Breakfast: “I think we’re in the foothills of a third wave, but this is during the vaccine wave isn’t it? So we’re very hopeful it will look very different."
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