Restrictions on Scotland's hospitality industry and indoor live events could be lifted before the end of the month.
Nicola Sturgeon revealed a final decision will be made a week today and if the move is approved it will apply from Monday, January 24.
Addressing MSPs in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon the First Minister explained: "Cabinet will next review the data at our meeting a week today.
"I hope this will allow us to lift the other protective measures, limits on indoor live events, table service in hospitality and
distancing in indoor public pleases.
"However, I will confirm this in my statement next week."
Ms Sturgeon pointed out that the lifting of restrictions might come at a cost, with potential expansion of the covid passport scheme.
She said: "As we do lift these other protective measures, it will be necessary to consider again if extending the scope of covid certification to other venues might be a necessary protection.
"To be clear, we have not yet taken any decisions on this and it will require careful judgment. But I want to be clear to Parliament today that it is something we feel bound to give appropriate consideration to."
The news comes as the omicron wave appears to be slowing in Scotland, with the predicted 50,000 new infections every day in early January failing to materialise.
Ms Sturgeon pointed out: "While the situation - not least for the NHS - remains very challenging, there are some early indications in the data that offer some encouragement.
"Firstly, while it is always difficult to prove a direct causal link between any specific action or measure and subsequent outcomes, there is reason to be optimistic that protective measures, the behavioural response of the general public and the vaccine programme have helped mitigate to some extent the impact of the omicron wave.
"For instance, our central projection last month was that new infections could reach 50,000 a day by early January. This has not so far materialised. Instead we estimate that the total number of new infections a day in early January - not just those recorded through positive PCR tests - may have been around 30,000."
Explaining that the situation now is likely to have been more challenging without the sacrifices of the public in recent weeks, Ms Sturgeon added: "Further, while we need to be cautious in our interpretation of the daily case numbers at this stage - for reasons I will set out - we can see from those and also from hospital data, some early indications that the situation might be starting to improve."
