Nicola Sturgeon will hold an unplanned Covid update later today as the number of new infections continue to rise sharply across Scotland.
She will be joined by National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch to update Scots on the pandemic.
The First Minister is expected to speak from around 12.15pm and will reveal the latest figures before discussing any possible changes.
It comes after record numbers of new daily increases in coronavirus infections, including over 5,000 new positive results on Wednesday.
Official figures also show hospitalisations starting to increase following a decline in recent months.
What will Nicola Sturgeon say in her Covid update?
It was reported on Thursday that the Scottish Government was considering a “circuit breaker” lockdown.
This would see restrictions introduced on a temporary basis in the hope of cutting the number of new cases.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said on Thursday the government wants to avoid school closures at all costs.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Wednesday, Mr Swinney said any new restrictions would be “proportionate”.
He added: “Cases have risen very significantly within Scotland and we are looking closely at why that is the case.
“Undoubtedly the gathering of people together in schools will have fuelled that to some extent. You can see that in the proportion of younger people who are testing positive.”
Asked if school closures could be among any early restrictions, he said: “We want to avoid that at all possible costs.”
How to watch the First Minister’s update
Nicola Sturgeon’s briefing will be available on the Scottish Government’s social media channels.
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