Scotland's chief medical officer says the country's lockdown measures have flattened the rate of increase of Covid-19 within the community.

While the numbers of new cases were doubling every four to five days three weeks ago, Dr Gregor Smith says that doubling rate was now around 11 days.

He says the rate of transmission of the virus had been reduced by two thirds. While it used to be that every person who caught the virus spread it to three others, he believes the rate was now each person passing it on to one person.

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The Scottish government is to establish an economic recovery advisory group to plan how to rebuild the economy once Covid-19 restrictions are able to be eased, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

She says the body, which will include business leaders and economic experts, will also look to build a "fairer, greener and more equal society".

The government was working with councils to make sure more of the £1.3bn available would be taken up.

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Nicola Sturgeon says the Scottish government has already awarded more than 18,000 grants to firms, with £215m paid out, as part of an expanded business support scheme worth £1.3bn in response to the coronavirus crisis.

The first minister also outlines extra measures to help the fishing industry, noting that "clearly the market for seafood and shellfish has effectively collapsed" which is having a "very serious and immediate impact on coastal and island communities".

The government is allocating a further £3.5m of support for fishing vessels of over 12 metres, Ms Sturgeon says.

In total more than 1,000 business in the seafood, agriculture and fishing sector can access support, bringing the overall level of support to nearly £23m, she adds.

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Lockdown restrictions cannot be lifted now because of fears that progress made in combating Covid-19 would be lost, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says.

She reports that her advisers are not yet confident that transmission has slowed sufficiently to ease up in any way and that doing so could risk an immediate resurgence of the virus.

They fear that this would lead potentially to the NHS being overwhelmed and lead to many more cases in care homes and a subsequent loss of life.

It could also lead to stronger restrictions and more damage to the economy.

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Nicola Sturgeon says she wants to express thanks to all healthcare workers across the country who are doing an "extraordinary job in the most difficult circumstances imaginable".

The first minister says she hopes the applause given to workers on Thursday evening in the weekly Clap for Carers event shows the "deep gratitude that all of us feel for the work you are doing right now".

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is stressing that: "We believe the restrictions are working."

She says the government's advisers believe the lockdown has resulted in a slowing down of the rate of community transmission of the virus.

"That slowdown seems to reflected in a stabilisation of the numbers being admitted to hospital and intensive care," Ms Sturgeon says.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has given an update on the latest coronavirus figures in Scotland.

They are as follows:

• 7,409 positive cases confirmed, an increase of 307
• 1,799 patients in hospital, the same number as yesterday
• 189 people in intensive care, a decrease of seven
• 58 deaths in the last 24 hours of patients who have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total - under that measurement - to 837. However, wider figures released earlier this week suggest the total number is well over 1,000.

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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will hold a media briefing on the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis in Scotland from 12:30.

Later, at 14:30, backbench MSPs will get the chance to put questions about the Scottish government's response to four ministers - Health Secretary Jeane Freeman, Justice Secretray Humza Yousaf, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell - via video link.

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Patients in and around Glasgow have started receiving potential treatment for Covid-19 as part of a clinical trial at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, with 120 patients recruited so far.

Anaesthetists, respiratory physicians, emergency medicine consultants, pharmacy teams and nurses are leading the board’s involvement in the UK-wide study, funded by the UK government.

The RECOVERY trial aims to find effective treatment for coronavirus patients by testing pre-existing medicine, including steroids, antivirals and antimalarial agents. Antibiotics may also be added at a future amendment.

All patients with Covid-19 that are treated at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Inverclyde Royal Hospital, and Royal Alexandra Hospital, will be offered the chance to take part in the clinical trial.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

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While government ministers don't want us even to think about the lockdown being relaxed - or an exit strategy - for fear of confusing the 'stay at home' message, isn't it inevitable and wise that we should?

Let's hope they're discussing it among themselves, even if they won't talk about it publicly, because it matters a lot, and it will require more foresight than we've seen on testing and ventilator procurement.

'Contact tracing' will involve not just testing, but an enormous invasion of privacy, while relaxing the lockdown rules will affect different sectors of the economy in different ways, depending how much they can implement social distancing,

Read more of Douglas's latest blog here.

BBC Radio Scotland

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Many hotels, pubs and restaurants might never recover from the Covid-19 lockdown unless more financial help from the government is forthcoming, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association has warned.

Paul Waterson told Mornings with Stephen Jardine he understands why the lockdown has been extended for three weeks but says it is having a "massive impact" on his members and that the "situation is dire".

"Although the government has tried to mitigate it in some ways, there are a lot of pubs and bars and so on that might not recover," he says. "Many businesses will not survive this unless we get even more help than we have already."

Mr Waterson thinks his members will be one of the last to benefit from any relaxation in the lockdown measures because social distancing would be difficult in such establishments.

Hard-up football clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two are to share a payout of £1.8m from the Scottish Professional Football League.

The clubs have had no fixtures since the league was suspended at the start of April and the money has been released after 81% of the 42 clubs voted this week to end the season early because of the Covid-19 crisis.

Today's end-of-season payments will be distributed to 30 clubs in the lower three divisions, with the future of the top-flight Premiership being delayed until European governing body Uefa takes a decision over placings for European competitions next season.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster says: “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Scottish football has been devastating. These funds will help bridge the gap and support clubs through this incredibly difficult period.”

Glasgow's Central Station was transformed in honour of our NHS and care workers for Thursday's weekly Clap for Carers event.

The iconic building was lit in blue lights and staff rearranged the seating in the station to spell out NHS.

BBC Radio Scotland

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Life in Britain will not return completely to normal until a vaccine is found for Covid-19, which is likely to be at least a year, predicts public health expert Dr Alan Maryon-Davis.

He told BBC Scotland's Mornings with Stephen Jardine it is now clear that the novel coronavirus is not as infectious as some diseases - measles is "many times more infectious. But he points out that the measles vaccine was crucial in helping mankind cope with that.

The honorary professor of public health at King's College, London, says Covid-19 "is going to be with us for quite some time and we're going to have to learn to cope with it".

Dr Maryon-Davis points out that while some people will become immune, it is not yet clear how many and to what degree.

The Scottish Open golf tournament, scheduled to take place at The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, from 9-12 July, has been postponed because of the coronavirus crisis.

The announcement from the European Tour comes along with the cancellation of the BMW International Open, which was due to take place in Munich in June, and Open de France, scheduled for early July near Paris.

While those two events will not go ahead, negotiations are continuing in the hope of rescheduling the Scottish Open.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Nicola Sturgeon has said she would deviate from the UK Government's lockdown measures if her advisers told her it was in the best interests of Scotland.

The first minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she thinks people would find it astounding if she said anything different.

She said she would continue to be driven by what advice, science and her own judgement tell her is the right thing to do.

BBC Radio Scotland

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The British public could be required to wear masks, even at work, once the nationwide lockdown begins to be eased, suggests public health expert Dr Alan Maryon-Davis.

"If you think, after three weeks, we will all be released into the community and we can all carry on as we were before, that's not the way obviously," the honorary professor at King's College, London, tells BBC Scotland's Mornings with Stephen Jardine.

"It's going to need to be a very gradual relaxation in various ways. So particular sectors might go back to work, children might go back to school, you might get restaurants opening - but all the time adhering to strict social distancing of 2m, possibly wearing masks out in the big cities where people huddle together on buses and trains and things like that."

Dr Maryon-Davis stresses this would also require the UK government to reach what he describes as "that mythical 100,000 tests per day" for Covid-19.

New doctors from the University of Aberdeen are graduating early to allow them to join efforts to combat coronavirus.

With guidance from the General Medical Council, the graduation date of final-year medical students was brought forward by nine weeks.

Those able to volunteer to join the NHS effort will begin work in supported and supervised roles across Scotland and elsewhere in the UK by the end of this month.

The 179 medical graduates are taking part in a virtual graduation ceremony on Friday morning.

BBC Radio Scotland

The three-week extension to the UK lockdown is "vitally important" to ensure "encouraging signs" in the battle against Covid-19 continue, according to Dr Alan Maryon-Davis, honorary professor of public health at King's College in London.

Speaking on BBC Scotland's Mornings with Stephen Jardine, Dr Maryon-Davis points out that the numbers of infections, and the admissions to hospital and intensive care, suggest there is a "levelling off", but stresses "it's just too early to relax on the lockdown".

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"If you look at what's happening in Wuhan in China, for instance, where they have relaxed a lot of the rules and people are travelling all around the place, they are worried about the possibility of resurgence," he says. "It is a real threat.

"We have to keep the mantra going about staying at home and protecting the NHS and saving lives otherwise there is this real risk of the whole thing coming back with a vengeance."

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With Captain Tom Moore, 99, walking his way to fame - and a fortune for NHS charities - another nonagenarian has embarked on a marathon challenge.

Margaret Payne, 90, aims to climb the equivalent height of Highland mountain Suilven - 731m (2,398ft) - with 282 trips upstairs at her Sutherland home.

Inspired by the Army veteran's 100 laps of his garden, she began on Sunday.

After hitting her target to raise £10,000 for the NHS and a hospice on Thursday, she said: "It's amazing."

Mrs Payne, from Ardvar, first climbed Suilven, in the west of Sutherland, aged 15, in 1944.

She believes her modern-day challenge will take around two months to complete.

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