Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Covid Scotland: John Swinney warns of ‘precarious situation’ as restrictions considered

John Swinney provided a Covid update on Tuesday

The deputy first minister has warned the Covid-19 situation in Scotland is “precarious and unpredictable” with restrictions being considered.

John Swinney has told MSPs in Holyrood that the Scottish Government fears a number of scenarios if coronavirus cases continue to rise from their current high level.

But Mr Swinney says while he is “not yet able to predict with confidence” what will happen next, he would prefer to avoid a lockdown similar to the one imposed before the vaccine roll-out.

Warning that cases are currently at a “concerningly high level”, Mr Swinney says it is expected that figures will rise over theĀ Christmas period with people spending more time inside.

We certainly want to avoid the sort of strict lockdown we [saw] before most of us were vaccinated

John Swinney

He said: “There are some specific reasons to suspect case numbers will increase.

“We certainly want to avoid the sort of strict lockdown we [saw] before most of us were vaccinated.

“We do not want to repeat the sort of disruption to our daily lives, businesses and economy that had been required at earlier stages.

There are fears about a further increases in cases this winter

“It is because we want to avoid more difficult restrictions that we cannot rule out strengthening the baseline protective measures currently in place.”

He says the government is considering the need to extend the Covid passport scheme, such as in indoor hospitality settings.

Changes to extend home working and the use of face coverings are also under consideration.

Review of Covid measures due next week

He says a review of the protective measures is due next week, with the government ready to respond to the data.

Mr Swinney warned: “Now is not the time to relax our approach.”

He has also given an update on the latest statistics, which show more than 2,000 new cases have been recorded.

John Swinney said he hoped the vaccine would prevent a similar lockdown being repeated even as cases rise

A further 20 coronavirus-related deaths have also been recorded in the latest 24-hour period.

It means the death toll under this daily measure – among people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is 9,313.

The new deaths include one in Dundee and one in Fife in the last 24 hours.

The national daily test positivity rate is 12%, up from 11% the previous day.

Drop in hospital patients with Covid-19

There were 753 people in hospital on Monday with recently confirmed Covid-19, down 50 on the day before, with 57 in intensive care, up three.

So far 4,324,440 people have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 3,918,528 have received a second dose.