Scots will have to wait until at least next spring before life resumes as normal, a leading scientist has claimed.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam believes the effect of a Covid-19 vaccine will not be truly visible until around Easter.
As coronavirus cases continue to rise in Scotland, members of the public are being urged to hunker down for the foreseeable future.
Government scientist Vam-Tam said: "I don’t think the use of vaccines will provide a meaningful public health result until about Easter, the Mirror reports.
"After that I’m hoping that their impact will be substantial. I’d hope that spring 2021 will represent a new dawn for the country, by which time we’ll be able to live life fairly safely."
He added: "Even so, moving forward, the way we live will change.
"Covid-19 won’t be eradicated anytime soon and we’ll have to learn to live with it to some extent.
"Maybe working from home will become far more common over the longer term in some industries."
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously warned Scots to expect virus-thwarting measures will be a “fact of life” until at least the end of the year.
Maintaining distance from strangers and avoiding crowded places has become the norm due to the pandemic with the hospital death toll sitting at 2491 people.
Issuing a stark warning in April, Sturgeon said: "A return to normal as we knew it is not on the cards in the near future.
"What we will be seeking to do is find a new normal - a way of living alongside this virus but in a form that keeps it under control.
"Social distancing and limiting our contacts with others will be a fact of life for a long time to come, certainly until treatments and ultimately a vaccine offer different solutions.
"So that means possibly for the rest of this year, and maybe even beyond."
