According to the latest Scottish government figures, 15,730 people have tested positive for Covid-19, an increase of 21 from yesterday.

There were 983 patients in hospital last night with either confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a rise of 69. Confirmed cases have dropped by eight to 582, with suspected cases jumping up by 77.

There are 20 patients in intensive care, a decrease of three.

A further five people who tested positive have died, taking the total to 2,447 deaths in Scotland by that measure.

3,892 people have been discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for the virus since 5 March.

Image source, Reuters

A working group will be set up with the aim of protecting jobs at the Rolls-Royce plant in Renfrewshire.

The firm said in recent weeks that 700 jobs were at risk in Inchinan following the collapse of orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is believed that most of the jobs are in the aerospace division.

Business minister Jamie Hepburn says the Scottish government is "in the process of establishing" a group.

Read more here.

Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

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Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, is answering listeners' questions again on Off The Ball on BBC Radio Scotland.

Q: Because of the relative sizes of Scotland and England, the power and size of the latter tends to colour the media message about tackling the virus and do you get frustrated that the message you are trying to get out there conflicts with the different messages from the UK government?

A: Not frustrated, but it's something we have to be conscious of. So we've made it very clear to my counterparts in the other four countries that, when I speak, I speak for Scotland. My colleague in England is in the media talking about the position in England and should make that clear. Actually, the differences are not huge - it is about timing and pace.

Q: We have a caravan booking for Seton Sands, beginning on 5 August. My 11-year-old daughter wants to know if you think the holiday will go ahead?

A: This week, we gave an indicative date for tourism of 15 July to give them time to get ready. All being well the tourism will begin to open up then. It will depend on how far the family lives from the caravan as we will have to change the travel recommendations - and it will also depend on how many households are involved in the holiday. I would not cancel a 5 August caravan holiday in Scotland just yet.

Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

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Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, is answering listeners' questions again on Off The Ball on BBC Radio Scotland.

Q: Famous cook and owner Delia Smith is giving up her seat in the Norwich directors' box until fans are allowed to return to matches.In England, up to 12 directors can attend, but surely behind-closed-doors means no unnecessary personnel.

A: The health services, like football clubs, needs executives and managers. It doesn't work by itself. I think football is not dissimilar to that and some leaders of football clubs can justify their presence on a match day.

Q: At what stage of easing the lockdown will bookmakers be open again in Scotland? They are opening again on Monday in England under non-essential retail. Will pubs be allowed to open at the same due to their similarities?

A: We will get a bit more specific about the type of stores as we move through the different stages of the route map. It is going to be easier if they are bigger and you can socially distance in them and easier if you don't hang about them. So we don't want people being in bookies for three hours watching the TV screens. It may be they can open earlier to allow people to go in and out of the premises.

Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

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Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, is answering listeners' questions again on Off The Ball on BBC Radio Scotland.

Q: I work in a prison and, at the start of my shift, I have to go around all the cell doors and make sure they are all locked - hundreds of cells. Should I wipe down each handle as I go or wash my hands at the end?

A: You should wash your hands at the beginning and at the end of that process and not touch your face during that process. That's hard to do, so I would have a little bottle of hand gel and use it a few times as you go round.

Q: Have you given any consideration to the risks of spreading the virus from bagpipes? Most have a water trap that reduces the moisture travelling to the reeds of the chanter and drones and I wonder if such a feature will reduce or eliminate water droplets being emitted. Will we have the 21st century equivalent of the Act of Prescription that banned the playing of the pipes or will pipe bands be allowed to resume during the route map?

A: This is the first time I've been asked about bagpipes, but people have looked into wind instruments. It is quite unusual and difficult for the water droplet with virus in it to go through the instrument and out the other end. It is not impossible, but it's very unlikely.

Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

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Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, is answering listeners' questions again on Off The Ball on BBC Radio Scotland.

Q: Edinburgh City play at Ainslie Park on the north side of Edinburgh - 150 yards from a large supermarket. Why can't the football club allow 250 fans into the ground while social distancing while the supermarket can allow a similar number inside their store?

A: There are some things that have to stay open. The health service has to stay open at some level, we need to have the fire service open, we need supermarkets open - they are essential. Although they have the same footprint, the supermarket is more important than the football club.

Q: What will happen on the return of football if a player is badly injured and is rolling about the turf. Do the other players and referee have to stay clear and what does the club physiotherapist and doctor have to do?

A: There will be protocols for that with some personal protective equipment for the physio and doctor on the side. You can deal with that pretty safely. I imagine they will be wearing masks and gloves.

Off The Ball
BBC Radio Scotland

Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, is answering listeners' questions again on Off The Ball on BBC Radio Scotland.

Q: Given that lockdown is at easing, when can groups that use football to help people with their mental health start up again?

A: That question also applies to many places where community sport helps with mental health and loneliness, and conditions like that, and we will think of that as part of the route map - but not yet. We are very mindful of that and will have guidelines in place.

Q: All the top-flight clubs in Scotland will have resumed training by Monday but you said the other week they could only pencil in a 1 August start for the new season. Have you revised your opinion on that?

A: I haven't, but we've had another good week. I don't like celebrating fewer people in hospitals and fewer people dying as every death is a tragedy. However, we've had another week of reduced mortality and reduced numbers in hospital, so I am more hopeful this Saturday than I was last Saturday, but I'm still cautious.

The Test and Protect system is been up and running and has worked pretty well in its first week of activity, so things are beginning to fall into place that will allow us to put another layer of pencil over that date, but it's still early days.

Scotland's national clinical director, Prof Jason Leitch, will again be answering listeners' questions on Off The Ball, which has just started on BBC Radio Scotland.

He will be joining hosts Stuart Cosgrove and Tam Cowan at about 12:30 BST.

Ben Philip
BBC Scotland

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An Aberdeen family on a round-the-world trip have now spent three months in lockdown in Nepal.

Kris and Julie Smith and their children - nine-year old Erihn and four-year-old Jacob - left Aberdeen in June last year to fulfil a "big crazy dream" of travelling around the globe.

However, coronavirus lockdown measures came into force in March.

They have been in Lukla - a small town in the Solukhumbu region - thousands of miles from home - since then.

Read more here.

We look at the work needed to create a vaccine and when one might be ready for the coronavirus.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK government will not extend the Brexit transition period, despite calls from the first ministers of Scotland and Wales.

Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford had written to Boris Johnson to request an extension.

They believe more time is required to complete negotiations and support businesses through recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Cabinet Minister Michael Gove confirmed there would be no extension beyond 31 December.

Read more here.

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British Airways' treatment of staff during the coronavirus crisis "is a national disgrace", MPs have claimed.

A Transport Select Committee report , externalaccuses the airline of a "calculated attempt to take advantage" of the pandemic by cutting thousands of jobs and downgrading terms and conditions.

BA said it was doing all it could to keep "the maximum number of jobs".

But the MPs said the airline's actions fell "well below the standards we would expect from any employer".

Read more here.

Good Morning Scotland - Weekend
BBC Radio Scotland

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"Far too many definite statements have been made on the virus, usually by politicians and journalists," Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at Reading University tells BBC Radio Scotland.

"Nine out of 10 times they are just opinions. There is no such thing as 'the science'. Scientific opinion often varies and views change as we learn more about this new virus."

As schools prepare to return, we have heard a lot about children's role in the transmission cycle.

"If we wind things back, we knew from China that children are unlikely to get severe disease," says Dr Clarke. "Then the question was do they get it all - and enough people said 'definitely not', but they do. To what extent can still be argued about, but it's not a huge variation.

"Then it was do they spread it on and the jury is still out on that. But we know from places like Denmark and Germany that they have not been drivers of infection, although it's important to remember they didn't just throw the doors to schools open again - it's been careful and controlled."

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Trooping the Colour, the traditional celebration of the monarch's official birthday, will not take place for only the second time during the Queen's 68-year reign.

Normally, the Queen inspects the Horse Guards at Whitehall before being escorted by the Household Cavalry back to Buckingham Palace, where she takes a salute before an RAF flypast.

It has only been cancelled once before during the Queen's reign - in 1955 during a national rail strike. But restrictions during lockdown have prevented the celebration from taking place in 2020 in its regular form.

Instead, the Queen, who has been staying at Windsor with the Duke of Edinburgh for the past 12 weeks, is taking two royal salutes at the castle from the Welsh Guards - under social-distancing rules and with no spectators.

Read more here.

Good Morning Scotland - Weekend
BBC Radio Scotland

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"Politicians need to decide how much risk they are willing to carry," says Dr Simon Clarke, an Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at Reading University, on the subject of social distancing guidelines.

Many UK businesses are lobbying for a reduction from the current 2m to 1m.

"What's really important is how many people in the community have got the virus, " Dr Clarke tells BBC Radio Scotland. "How likely are you to encounter someone who has it?

"2m is better than 1m, but you can turn that round and say, well 3m is better than 2m. It's a judgement call for politicians.

"Reducing the distance would increase risk, but there would be advantages for schools and certain businesses and if fewer people are carrying the virus then it counter-balances the increased risk."

Ethnic minority doctors in the NHS feel "let down" by delays in work to ensure they are protected from coronavirus, the British Medical Association says.

The doctors' union warns many have not had promised risk assessments and redeployment opportunities.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA Council chairman, said it was "critical" action was taken to protect black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) doctors.

At the end of April, NHS England recommended that ethnic minority healthcare workers should be risk-assessed for coronavirus, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland issued similar guidance.

But BBC research has found that hundreds of doctors still have not had a risk assessment.

Read more here.