Scotland’s coronavirus case count has risen to three.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said two new cases had been confirmed overnight.
Speaking to BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland, she said she was unable to release any more details about the new cases at this stage.
She said: “Overnight, we were informed of two more cases. Obviously, at this point there isn’t any more I can say about that. We will release more information later.”
Scotland’s first case emerged on Sunday, in a Tayside patient who had recently returned from Italy.
Asked if the new cases are also in Tayside or are elsewhere in Scotland, she said she was unable to say more.
“There are a number of steps that we need to go through with the patients concerned before we can release any level of information.
“Partly it’s about patient confidentiality, and partly it’s about making sure we get the right clinical responses to cases.”
She added that more information will be released “later in the day”.
She said the Government was looking at capacity in the NHS and “what more we can do now in order to create additional headroom inside the health service”.
Consideration is also being given to how to increase capacity in areas of the NHS such as high oxygen therapy for patients, Mr Freeman said.
Meetings are also taking place with local government leaders at Cosla to see what can be done to ensure patients do not have to stay in hospital longer than is needed because they are waiting for care arrangements.
The Health Secretary said: “There is more than we need to do, we still have too many people not leaving at the point when the hospital has finished delivering clinical care.”
She spoke after figures published on Tuesday showed that the problem of delayed discharge had reached a new high.
Ms Freeman has already told MSPs that emergency legislation could be introduced to support efforts to deal with the coronavirus.
This could allow the Scottish Government to take “extraordinary” action, such as making vaccinations compulsory for healthcare workers.
The emergency legislation, which is expected to be passed in Westminster later this month, will also waive some regulations to make it easier for former NHS Scotland staff to return to their old jobs to ease the pressure on the health service.
