Jamie McIvor
BBC Scotland

Glasgow’s main shopping streets are noticeably quieter than they were yesterday.

The bulk of city centre retailers are now open except for those inside shopping centres.

The only significant queue in Argyle Street is outside Primark.

However, this queue is still much shorter than it was yesterday - when it stretched round the corner and went well into another street.

Image source, Getty Images

Making face coverings compulsory in Scotland's shops could create more "frictions and flashpoints" in stores if staff have to enforce rules on wearing them, retail chiefs have warned.

The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said shops were already concerned about a "growth in incidents of abuse towards staff" and warned that making coverings such as masks mandatory could exacerbate this.

Nicola Sturgeon is set to make an announcement on the issue on Thursday.

The Scottish Greens said shoppers should be required to cover their faces inside stores, as they already are in 50 countries including Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea.

Reevel Alderson
BBC Scotland Home Affairs correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The QC who has been monitoring the way Police Scotland has operated during the coronavirus pandemic has said the force has been doing a good job.

Speaking to a virtual meeting of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), John Scott said the force had resisted demands for greater enforcement of emergency regulations.

A report presented to the SPA board said that from 27 March until 17 June there were more than 53,000 interventions using emergency powers - an average of 640 a day.

Data showed 92.8% of these were the dispersal of people, with only 6.6% of incidents involving enforcement action.

It also revealed the issue of fixed penalty notices or arrests was higher in the early stage of lockdown.

Prof Susan McVie of Edinburgh University, who has carried out research for the review, told the SPA board: "I think this demonstrates a high level of discretion in terms of the police having been given quite draconian powers."

BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS Group

Organisers have cancelled this year's Melrose Sevens tournament, having initially hoped to play later in the year.

The annual event was due to take place from 9-12 April, but was postponed in March due to coronavirus.

Tournament director Phil Morris said cancelling was now the "responsible decision".

It is the first year the Sevens has been cancelled since World War Two.

Read more here.

Paul O'Hare
BBC Scotland News

Image source, Getty Images

It is now 100 days since Covid-19 forced Scotland into an unprecedented lockdown.

Since then the virus has touched everything and changed everything.

BBC Scotland looks back on some of the key developments during a remarkable three months.

Read more here.

• In the past 24 hours, three deaths were registered with Covid-19, which takes the total by that measurement to 2,485
• That comes after four successive days of no deaths
• Nicola Sturgeon says we have reached a moment of “great opportunity” but also warns of “very real danger”
• The FM says there has been "massive and very welcome progress" as we reach the 100th day of lockdown
• The health secretary confirms that visiting to non-Covid areas of hospitals can resume safely and on a phased basis from 13 July
• Visitors must wear a mask, abide by hand hygiene and social-distancing rules and not attend if they have symptoms

• FM "extremely underwhelmed" with PM’s plans, saying proposed investment is not new money but she "recognises importance of collaboration" on A1 project
• Scottish government has an enforcement regime if face coverings in shops are made mandatory - more details to come on Thursday

• FM to "respond in full" to school staff PPE concerns

Image source, AFP/Getty

Tom Gordon, from The Herald, points out that, in the prime minister's speech this morning, Boris Johnson emphasised the role of the union, calling it "an incredible partnership" that proved its worth during the pandemic. He asks what the first minister's response is considering she would like Scotland to be independent.

"Boris Johnson and I are very different kinds of people, very different personalities and I would, in a whole range of ways, choose not to emulate him and how he speaks and how he behaves and I'm sure he would choose not to emulate me in many respects," Nicola Sturgeon replies.

"I don't think you'll catch me very often leaping to the floor to do press-ups during a media interview, for example.

"In terms of the wider and future arguments about Scotland's constitutional future, people will make their own minds up on that and draw their own conclusions and part of the process they will go through is watching how the Scottish government conducts itself and how Boris Johnson conducts himself.

"My focus is on tackling this virus and any leader should have that as their central focus."

The Scotsman asks if the first minister has seen anything in recent data to suggest that people are becoming more complacent when it comes to compliance with public health guidelines.

"Everything I am seeing from the data says we are heading in the right direction," replies Nicola Sturgeon.

However, she reminds us of the time lag caused by the incubation period of the virus and says if we were all to throw caution to the wind now it would very quickly spread again.

With lockdown restrictions easing, the first minister says she understands that it is "almost human nature" to relax a bit. The need to prevent the virus spreading is greater now that we venture out more and see more people, she repeats.

"We will do what is required," replies Nicola Sturgeon to a question from The Times on how local lockdowns could be implemented in Scotland's cities.

"The more we can drive down levels of the virus now and the more we can rely on testing and tracing and our surveillance strategy to catch outbreaks early, the more narrow and targeted we can be with suppression measures," she explains.

"That is what we are aiming for, trying, if possible, to avoid locking anybody down again."

Image source, Getty Images

Christine Lavelle, from The Sun, wonders how the first minister will respond to school cleaners, janitors and support staff who have signed an open letter from their trades union saying they "feel forgotten and that they feel their safety is at risk, being given the bare minimum of PPE".

Nicola Sturgeon replies that "we will respond in full" but points out that she had a meeting with the trades union governing body, the STUC, yesterday where the subject was discussed.

She points out that local authorities are responsible for the provision of PPE in education and will have responsibility for complying with Scottish government guidance as schools prepare to reopen in August. Ms Sturgeon points out that individual schools will also "take appropriate risk assessments".

The first minister adds that she understands the anxiety of employees and it is up to the government and local authorities to provide them with reassurance in the weeks ahead.

Image source, Getty Images

The Daily Record has a question on whether the temporary Louisa Jordan hospital in Glasgow will be used to help clear up the NHS backlog.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman says a final decision is yet to be reached on using the facility at the Scottish Exhibition Centre and stresses that extra hospital capacity will be required should there be any increase in Covid cases.

Image source, Getty Images

The Daily Express returns to the theme of tourism, saying that talk of not following the UK government's "air bridge" and related quarantine policy may deter people from making bookings in Scotland.

The first minister repeats that there are no plans to change the current quarantine guidelines right now, but stresses that she would not be doing her job properly - given the unpredictability of the virus - if she were to categorically rule it out.

We have to strike a balance, says Ms Sturgeon, and keeping the virus under control has to be the driving factor.

Image source, Getty Images

The next question is from Michael Blackley from the Daily Mail, who asks about the Scottish Tourism Alliance pointing out 78% of Scottish tourism is from the UK market.

Mr Blackley asks for clarification for those from other parts of the UK who are thinking of booking a holiday in Scotland from the middle of next month, "are they welcome to do that from the 15th of July".

"People from England are welcome in Scotland, that has always been the case and always will be the case."

However she adds: "I cannot guarantee that we will have no need to impose any kind of restrictions to keep this virus under control."

The first minister says she will take the decisions that are necessary to protect the Scottish people.

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister is asked about the Scottish Retail Consortium saying it is concerned about staff being abused by customers should wearing face coverings become mandatory.

Nicola Sturgeon replies that: "It is not for staff in shops, just as it is not for staff on public transport, to be the enforcers of these rules.

"We have an enforcement regime, which would be the case for retail if we go down that track, and I'll say more about that on Thursday.

"But let's be clear that nobody should be abusing or being intolerant or showing a disrespect to people working in our shops."

Ms Sturgeon points out that customers have a choice about whether to shop in those premises, but workers do not and anything they ask customers to do should be respected.

Image source, CalMac

Fraser Knight from Global says there are concerns that social distancing on ferries could mean a significant reduction in tourists getting to the islands.

Mr Knight points out some businesses in Arran think it might not even be worth opening.

He asks why social distancing is needed on ferries, when planes can take off with passengers sitting next to each other.

The first minister says she will say a lot more about physical distancing on Thursday.

Ms Sturgeon recognises the tension at play here, she says, however the balance must be right.

She adds part of mitigating the risk is getting infection rates low and adds everyone wants to see the tourism industry thrive, but we cannot allow more virus spreading into these areas.

ITV Border ask the first minister if she will commit to dualling the A1 in Scotland after promises from Prime Minister Boris Johnson to carry out major works on the route in England

Nicola Sturgeon says she recognises the importance of work being done on both sides of the border but repeats her scepticism over some of the substance of Mr Johnson's spending pledges.

Moving on, she says "there's not a lot of point right now in me wishing things had been done differently," when asked if she has regrets over not imposing lockdown earlier.

"We took those decisions based on the best evidence and judgement we had at the time."

She explains that it will be really important to scrutinise the response at a later date, for reasons of accountability and learning lessons.

Image source, Getty Images

Gordon Chree, from STV, points out that the first minister has said tough decisions may have to be taken.

He wonders if she has anything in particular in mind and if the "complacency" she said we have to guard against was a reference to any particular behaviours.

"On the first one, I am not citing anything in particular," Nicola Sturgeon replies. "I am just making the point that, as we go through the coming months, in order to protect the progress and deal with any flare-ups that might arise, we will continue to take tough decisions.

"These may include not easing things up as quickly as people want...or we might have to reimpose a restriction.

"There's no particular behaviour that I see that's concerning me. I spoke a couple of weeks ago about people gathering in crowded places and I would be concerned if I saw that."

On the prime minister's speech this morning, in which he advocated the UK "bouncing back better" from coronavirus, the first minister says she is "to put it mildly, extremely underwhelmed" by Boris Johnson's plans.

"This is not new money - this is simply shuffling around money that was in the system", the FM said.

She added that her expectation was that there would be no additional Barnett consequentials coming to Holyrood as a result of the package announced by the PM this morning. Instead, she said, there may be a "re-profiling" of what they were already expecting.

"I don't think that's commensurate with the scale of the challenge we face", Ms Sturgeon added.