Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tells BBC Scotland the lockdown measures are working but the number of deaths will be the last thing to decline.

She says: "We are already seeing a decline in hospital admissions, in people being admitted to intensive care, so all of that shows we are heading in the right direction but we have work to do."

Ms Sturgeon said the easing of the lockdown measures will be "baby steps".

"We will have to be very careful, very cautious, because the virus will have been suppressed but it will not have gone away," she said.

"We will have to live with it for some time."

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Thursday that gatherings in pubs and at public events were likely to be banned or restricted for some time to come.

And she said all pupils might not be able to attend school at the same time because of social distancing rules.

But Ms Sturgeon said Scotland was not yet able to begin to ease its lockdown.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is about to join the Good Morning Scotland team to talk about her announcement that restrictions will be with us for some time to come.

Follow our live coverage or listen to the interview here.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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Murdo Fraser is asked if he is convinced UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock will deliver on a commitment of 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day by next week. Just over 22,000 are currently being carried out.

He says all targets "are very ambitious" and difficult to achieve.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Murdo Fraser says businesses will continue to get UK government support throughout the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

However, he warns there is a real danger of a "major, catastrophic collapse" in the economy if firms are forced to continue with social distancing without financial help "and I am sure that the chancellor is very alive to these issues".

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Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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On the argument for Scotland to take a different approach to the rest of the UK, Murdo Fraser - who is likely to be elected convener of Holyrood's new Covid-19 committee - has warned that there is a danger of causing public confusion about what restrictions should be lifted.

The Conservative MSP pointed to differing guidelines affecting the construction industry across the UK.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser has welcomed the Scottish government's latest plans for tackling the virus, but said they provided "more questions than answers".

He said there was no obvious time framework or a structure as to how we go forward.

Mr Fraser told Good Morning Scotland that if the UK government was looking to follow the Scottish government by engaging more with the public, "it needs to be informed by the science and the best medical advice and for some conclusions to come out of it".

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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The chief executive of the Crieff Hydro Hotel group, who is also chairman of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, has said he fears for the future if stringent lockdown measures continue indefinitely.

Stephen Leckie said that he currently had 900 staff on furlough, but his business had taken on considerable debt to keep going.

"Our plan was to close for three months, possibly six months, we could survive six months, with massive losses, with huge further debt."

He told Good Morning Scotland that the company would of course comply with government guidelines on the lockdown, but he hoped ministers would support business to do so.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Social-distancing measures can slowly be lifted if we manage the virus and respond to the data, Prof Hanegan says.

"Then we should be able to have an approach back to some kind of normality."

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Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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Prof Hanegan says it is important to start opening up the economy because "we need to get a plan in place for next winter".

"If it re-emerges at that point, we need a different strategy because we can't afford to just keep locking down society."

He says governments have to find a way of shielding the elderly and most vulnerable while tracing people who have come into contact with the virus.

Prof Hanegan says the ambulance and 111 figures are a more accurate reflection on the situation than death figures.

He also says that controlling the virus remains the most important factor, through social restrictions and other measures, but seasonal conditions could also have an effect.

"As we go into the summer, it will wane," he says. "But it will still be very difficult to get rid of every single case."

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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Scotland has passed the peak of coronavirus, according to researchers at Oxford Unviersity.

Prof Cal Hanegan told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme analysis cases reached their height on 9 April and the number of patients treated in critical care units peaked three days later.

He said Scotland's use of daily data was helping to show whether the action being taken is working.

He said: "You can use it to be more confident in opening up the economy and opening up schools.

"If there's no increase in ambulance activity or 111, that provides more confidence to open up more parts of society."

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

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Suggestions that the Highlands and Islands should remain in lockdown beyond other parts of Scotland have been played down by a leading epidemiolgist.

There are concerns that to protect elderly populations and limited healthcare resources, the Highlands could stay in lockdown longer.

However, Prof Rowland Kao from the University of Edinburgh says there may in fact be scientific evidence to suggest an earlier easing of restrictions in the region.

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The committee has been set up to examine the emergency legislation that's been passed to deal with the crisis.

Scotland's Constitution Secretary Mike Russell will be the first minister to be quizzed by MSPs in their session this morning.

It's likely MSPs will want to quiz him on the first minister's paper, released yesterday, which attempts to begin a conversation on exiting lockdown.

They'll also want to ask how public consent for the measures can be maintained and how much Scotland should diverge from the rest of the UK.

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The key developments from yesterday were:

1. We learned that the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown is likely to be phased in Scotland - with some measures remaining in place into next year, "or beyond".

2. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said gatherings in pubs and at public events were likely to be banned or restricted for some time to come.

3. We were also told that we will have to "adapt to a new reality" in the future - and that lockdown could be reinstated "with very little notice" if the transmission of the virus cannot be controlled.

4. The Scottish government published a new document , externaloutlining the basis of an exit strategy from the UK-wide lockdown but did not set any dates for when the restrictions could begin to be lifted.

5. Scotland's new normal, according to the first minister, will involve "living alongside the virus in a form which keeps it under control".

A St Andrews mother-to-be could be prevented from being at the birth of her first child.

Olivia Rowlands and her husband Sam are expecting a baby girl in July.

The baby is being carried by her cousin, Ellie Hutchinson, after treatment for bowel cancer left Olivia unable to go through pregnancy.

But lockdown means many of the precious moments of the pregnancy have been experienced by video and the new parents may not be able to be at the birth.

Image source, Olivia Rowlands