Coronavirus restrictions update: Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to 'tune in' to coronavirus announcement as she is to give covid restriction level update for all of Scotland

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to ‘tune in’ to today’s coronavirus briefing as she is going to update the country on the latest decisions regarding the coronavirus restriction levels across Scotland.

It is expected that Ms Sturgeon is going to update the country on the situation in Moray and Glasgow – areas which remained in Level 3 while the rest of mainland Scotland moved to Level 2 on Monday – and possibly announce an update to the restrictions level in East Renfrewshire, an area which has seen a concerning rise in cases this week.

She tweeted a message on Friday morning encouraging everyone to tune-in to the briefing at 12.15pm, saying that she was going to give an “assessment of the situation across Scotland”.

Professor Linda Bauld a behavioural scientist at Edinburgh University, has said that now is the time where we should be “more concerned”.

She said: “East Renfrewshire and South Glasgow are inextricably interlinked. People just move between those areas for very essential reasons such as work and education.

"The difficult issue is closing down businesses that have only been open for a week. That is a tricky policy call."

She said the numbers of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the region were not just suitable for level three restrictions but heading towards level four.

The vaccine roll-out has been accelerated to try to tackle the rising case numbers and protect more Scots from the virus.

The First Minister has urged Scots to tune-in to the lunchtime briefing.

Prof Bauld emphasised the importance of this continuing as "even people in their thirties and forties in some of these communities are not very healthy".

You can follow the announcement via our Live Blog.

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