Image source, bbc

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will shortly hold a media briefing on coronavirus (COVID-19).

Image source, Volunteer Scotland

There are lots of sources of useful information at Ready Scotland, external to help you stay safe and well during the coronavirus outbreak and on volunteering. Volunteer Scotland, external is another very useful website.

For advice on the coronavirus:

• NHS Inform, external host a wealth of advice on symptoms, social distancing, caring for a cough or fever, and more.
• If you don't have symptoms and are looking for general information, phone our free helpline on 0800 028 2816, external. The helpline is open from 8.00am to 10.00pm each day.
• Or you can click to find out more about helping in your community, external and where to find additional support, external

Image source, Getty Images

An education think tank is calling for an urgent effort to recruit "an army of online tutors" to help pupils during the coronavirus school shutdown.

The Commission on School Reform has warned an extended period of absence from school "will widen the attainment gap unless action is taken".

It says the national body Education Scotland "has the capacity and experience to put such a programme together quickly".

Angie Brown
Edinburgh and East reporter

School pupils are being drafted in to work in an Edinburgh brach of Tesco after 25 staff members went into isolation.

Children from 16 years old have started working on checkouts at the supermarket in Colinton Mains.

One said the wages were “really good” and that she had been wearing her school uniform without her tie because she had been recruited so quickly that she had not yet been given a uniform.

There has been a 20% drop in people attending blood donation sessions since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

The sessions are going ahead as normal, with social distancing measures, but the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has seen a fall in donors.

The service is asking people who are fit and well, and not impacted by coronavirus, to keep donating.

Demand for blood from hospitals has fallen slightly as a result of all elective surgery being postponed.

Image source, getty

Buckingham Palace has said the Queen "remains in good health" as Prince Charles self-isolates at Balmoral.

The Queen last saw her son, who has tested positive for Covid-19, on 12 March.

Read more here.

Inverness city centre was near deserted on the morning of day two of the "lockdown" in Scotland.

Few people were in the main streets or in Falcon Square outside the Eastgate Centre, the main shopping centre in the Highland capital.

There was only one car in the usually packed car park at Inverness Leisure, the largest sports and leisure complex in the Highlands.

Work on the West Link roads project at the Caledonian Canal was among construction schemes across the city which hacve been halted.

Image source, Getty Images

Vehicles will be exempt from requiring an MOT test for six months from 30 March, the Department of Transport has announced.

This will allow essential workers to travel to and from their workplace - though the advice to avoid travelling if possible remains in place.

Drivers will be expected to keep their vehicles in good condition and will be prosecuted if found driving unsafe vehicles.

Those whose MOT runs out before next Monday will still be expected to get a test.

Scotland's main rail operator has seen a dramatic fall in passenger numbers because of the coronavirus outbreak.

ScotRail said there has been about a 75% reduction in passenger numbers, year-on-year.

Trains were busy at the start of the week despite advice to limit travel to essential journeys only.

However, most people are now staying away from rail services it appears.

Edinburgh’s normally busy Waverley Station has become almost empty, with staff out-numbering the passengers left trying to catch the few trains that are still running.

Image source, Reuters

The Duke of Rothesay has tested positive for coronavirus, Clarence House has confirmed.

Prince Charles, 71, is displaying mild symptoms "but otherwise remains in good health", a spokesman said.

The Duchess of Cornwall, 72, has also been tested but does not have the virus.

Charles and Camilla were now self-isolating at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire.

The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire.

The chairwoman of Maryhill Comunity Centre Hall in Glasgow, Anna Dyer, says more support and guidance are needed for vounteers who want to help during the coronavirus crisis.

Ms Dyer told Kaye Adams that she has already had to stand down many of her existing volunteers because they are in a vulnerable group.

The Maryhill Community Centre is currently running a childcare nursery for key workers.

Ms Dyer said Maryhill was one of the most deprived areas of Scotland with many single-person households that had no internet access, making people very isolated.

Image source, get

Angie Brown
Edinburgh and East reporter

Plans have been put in place to protect people facing homelessness during the coronavirus outbreak in Edinburgh.

• Dedicated team set up to co-ordinate city's support for homeless• Hotels, self-contained flats and halls of residence could be used• Care packages including food to be delivered

Image source, Thinkstock

The spending limit on contactless cards is to be increased to £45 from April, UK Finance has announced.

The limit per transaction is currently £30. When the technology was first introduced in 2007, the limit was £10.

The change was already being considered by the finance industry but the move has been accelerated in response to Covid-19.

Due to the pace of change, not all retailers will be able to offer the new limit immediately however.