What time is John Swinney’s coronavirus update on Tuesday? When the Deputy First Minister will give statement to Scottish Parliament

Deputy First Minister John Swinney is set to give the latest Covid-19 update in a statement to Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Swinney will address MSPs in a virtual session of Holyrood at around 2.20pm.

It comes as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says there is “early evidence” lockdown restrictions are working and starting to reduce case numbers.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said: “We think we may have some cautious grounds for optimism that admissions to hospital are starting to tail off slightly.”

The First Minister urged Scots to keep sticking to lockdown regulations, saying positive signs can only be maintained if adherence to the rules continues.

She said: “We are seeing some early evidence that these restrictions are working, which is positive.

“We think they are starting to reduce case numbers and while it will take a bit of time yet to feed properly into admissions to hospital and ICU, we also hope that we might be starting to see some early positive signs too.”

On Monday, Scotland recorded four deaths of coronavirus patients and 752 new cases in 24 hours.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney.

The death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 5,709.

A total of 172,953 people have tested positive in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon added that 415,402 people have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and said the Scottish Government is on track to meet its target for the vaccination of everyone over the age of 70, which has been set for the middle of February.

Ms Sturgeon told the briefing that 95% of residents in adult care homes and 95% of health workers have now been vaccinated, with 46% of all people over the age of 80 given a jab, up by 9% since Friday.

From Monday, Scots aged between 70 and 79 started receiving letters inviting them for their inoculation.

“It’s in your interests and obviously in everybody else’s interest for you to accept the appointment and get vaccinated as soon as possible,” the First Minister said.

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