Streets across the north and north-east were deserted today as the country entered lockdown once again.
With all non-essential shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs and gyms closed, and people once again instructed to work from home Aberdeen, Elgin and Inverness were turned into ghost towns.
Schools – which were due to go back on January 18 – are also shut under the tighter restrictions, which came into force at midnight as a result in a spike of cases caused by the new variant of coronavirus.
Union Street, usually bustling with pedestrians on their way to work or the shops and cars was empty, as was Holburn Street and Belmont Street.
Peterhead and Ellon were also eerily quiet.
In Inverness, few people were seen taking up the opportunity for exercise as the streets were empty.
Unlike last year’s lockdown, there is no limit on exercise but Ms Sturgeon urged people to stay as close to home as possible and announced outdoor meet-ups are now restricted to two people from two households.
Scots woke up this morning to the reminder they should stay at home unless it is for “essential” care, shopping, exercise or being part of an extended household.
Today’s daily Scottish Government figures showed the country has recorded 11 deaths of coronavirus patients and where 2,529 people have tested positive in the past 24 hours.
The first minister said the new variant represents 50% of all new cases and is expected to keep rising.
Nicola Sturgeon gave her regular coronavirus briefing and said the key message was people should stay at home.
She said: “Fundamentally, I am asking everybody to really try hard to stay at home as much as possible, and only leave home if it is for a genuinely essential purpose.”
With the new strain of coronavirus spreading more easily, the first minister said it had been necessary to tighten up restrictions on meeting outdoors, so that now only two people from two households can meet – where previously the limit had been six people from two households.
She accepted the move to shut places of worship for everything apart from weddings, funerals and broadcasting services was “very distressing” for many.
She added: “I know people in faith communities take great comfort from collective worship, this is a particularly hard restriction to bear.
“But we do deem it essential at the moment to help us with that overall task of getting the virus back under control.
“We will not keep these restrictions in place for any longer than necessary.”