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Nicola Sturgeon says the Scotttish government is making sure it provides help for health and social care staff.

The first minister points to the support hub already in place at www.promis.scot and says today a dedicated phone line will be launched.

It will provide advice and a sympathetic ear she explains.

The line is open 24 hours a day seven days a week for all health and social care workers and the number is: 0800 111 4191.

The first minister says: "We all have a part to play in keeping this virus under control."

"All of the elements of our FACTS campaign continue to be crucial."

The first minister says we are all in danger of "dropping our guard" and if we are "all of us should resolve to tighten up again".

She points out the more people we see and more meetings we have the more important becomes FACTS.

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Nicola Sturgeon says since Thursday there has been a lot of attention given to the reporting new virus cases over the weekend.

The first minister adds she has now reported more than 20 new cases today.

These figures are a sharp reminder that the virus is still circulating in Scotland and it is capable of and will spread rapidly in social or work settings, she tells the briefing.

A great deal of work is being done not least through Test and Protect, to break the chains of transmission, the first minister explains.

"In total more than 25,000 tests were processed across the two days of the weekend."

Ms Sturgeon says the number of cases are still at a relatively low level so detail can be provided.

The first minister says there are currently 618 patients in hospital with a suspected or confirmed case of the virus (up 51, including four more confirmed cases), with four being treated in intensive care with confirmed Covid and 16 suspected as having the virus.

From Wednesday only confirmed cases in intensive care will be reported.

No deaths were registered in the past 24 hours of people who tested positive, meaning the total remains at 2,491.

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Close contacts of eight people who have tested positive at a contact tracing call centre in North Lanarkshire have been identified and given advice.

Sitel, which carries out contact tracing for NHS England, said it was aware of a "local outbreak" at its Motherwell site.

Public Health Scotland later confirmed that eight people had so far been identified as having the virus.

It said "almost all" the close contacts identified had been traced..

Nicola Sturgeon confirms 18,474 people have now tested positive for Covid-19, an increase of 22 from yesterday.

All these cases are being looked into very carefully, she explains and adds a health board breakdown will be available later today.

However the provisional information is that the majority of these cases are in Lanarkshire and at least some of them are likely to be connected to the outbreak at the Sitel centre.

She reveals she will chair a Scottish government resilience meeting this afternoon to consider the situation in Lanarkshire.

Get ready to join us for the Scottish government daily briefing at the earlier time of 12.15pm today - we'll bring you extensive coverage as ever.

The latest figures show new Coronavirus cases are back in single figures after the highest daily increases in about a month were recorded at the weekend.

There were 21 new cases on Saturday, and 23 on Sunday.

Today's briefing by the first minister comes after an outbreak of Covid-19 at a call centre in Motherwell where employees work on NHS England’s Test and Trace programme.

Eight employees tested positive for coronavirus. The site is now closed and public health Scotland say “almost all” people who may have come into close contact with the virus have been traced and given advice.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, PA Media

Activity in the property market a week after the Scottish government reduced Land and Buildings Transactions Tax in response to the pandemic is brisk, an estate agent tells BBC Radio Scotland.

Tax has been lifted from properties selling up to £250,000, saving sellers 2% if their property was between that and the previous threshold of £145,000.

Brian Gilmour, from Indigo Square Property, admits it is early days but reports: "The feedback I've been getting from a lot of estate agents is they are really busy just now - lots of enquiries, lots of house sales going through."

His "gut feeling" is that much of it is due to "pent-up activity" suspended because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

And his concern is that there will only be an increased demand only until October, when the UK government's furlough scheme is due to end and the full economic impact of the pandemic is realised.

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

The French company hoping to manufacture , externala coronavirus vaccine at its facility in Livingston by "the second half of next year" believes other research projects will make a breakthrough before them.

But Valneva chief financial officer David Lawrence backs the UK government's decision to take "a portfolio approach" to finding a solution.

"They have decided not to rely on one approach for a vaccine and personally I think that's pretty smart," he tells BBC Radio Scotland.

"By backing a number of horses there's a greater likelihood that we will develop vaccines that can be manufactured and brought to the market on a scale that we're going to need."

Mr Lawrence explains his company is taking a "more traditional" approach with an "inactivated" vaccine.

Valneva, which previously developed a vaccine for Japanese encephalitis, has agreed with the UK government a timescale to target 60 million doses of its two-dose vaccine available next year, which would treat 30 million people.

"The work that's been done this year is phenomenal and nobody knows which vaccine will work or how fast," he adds.

Just under 10,000 deaths were registered in the UK during the week of 10 July, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

That is about 600 (or 6%) below the average for that week in the preceding five years.

Some of the very elderly or vulnerable people who have died during the epidemic might have died this summer had they not been infected.

According to the ONS: "These deaths occurring earlier than expected could contribute to a period of deaths below the five-year average.”

Deaths in hospitals and care homes are now running below their expected levels in Great Britain, but we are still seeing more deaths in private homes than the five-year average would predict.

The number of death certificates mentioning Covid-19 fell to 388, its lowest since the week before lockdown was announced.

Image source, bbc

Just joining us? Well here's what's making the headlines in terms of the pandemic in Scotland today.

• Nicola Sturgeon will give her first televised briefing since an outbreak of Coronavirus at a North Lanarkshire call centre
• Eight people have tested positive for Covid 19 after a cluster of cases originated at the local call centre Motherwell
• The Tavern in Motherwell, linked to a coronavirus outbreak in the town, is reopening as normal today after being closed for a deep clean
• The government briefing begins earlier than normal at 12.15pm today
• It's the first full week of tourism in Scotland since the sector was allowed to restart
• Fifty thousand Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest staff have been told they can expect to continue working from home into next year

Coronavirus is a completely new infection in people. Nobody had immunity to the virus at the start of the pandemic, but immunity is the key to getting life back to normal.

And understanding what immunity to the virus looks like and how long it lasts is crucial for understanding what happens next.

Read more here.

Angie Brown
BBC Scotland news reporter

Image source, Fatema Begum

A Bangladeshi garment worker says a "fashion box" scheme set up by an Edinburgh business will help her feed her family.

Fatema Begum, 30, is one of an estimated two million garment workers in Bangladesh who lost their jobs during the coronavirus crisis.

The mother-of-two who is the sole earner for her family told BBC Scotland she lost her job in April.

"It has been really difficult, my family is dependent on me, but now we are all helpless," she said.

Read interview here

Image source, Fatema Begum

Mornings with Kaye Adams
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, PA Media

It is still possible that none of the vaccines being developed to tackle the novel coronavirus will work, a virologist at the University of Brighton warns.

Dr Sarah Pitt, a fellow of the Institute of Bio-Medical Science, points out on BBC Radio Scotland that attempts to create a vaccine for other coronaviruses, like the common cold, have failed.

However, she says it is possible that several will work and the world will have available alternative vaccines.

Responding to a caller who points out that his suppressed immune system means he is unable to take "live vaccines", Dr Pitt points out that, in the early years of tackling polio, there were vaccines that injected both the live virus and a killed one.

She also stresses that, although the Oxford University vaccine presently in the news has been proven to induce an immune response, "we don't necessarily know that it will protect us from infection, which is the next stage of their investigations".

"The other thing we don't know if it will work as well in the over 60s, which is the group we are most worried about," she adds.

Misleading and harmful online content about coronavirus has spread "virulently" because the UK still lacks a law to regulate social media.

That's the verdict from an influential group of MPs.

They highlight rumours of fake cures and conspiracy theories about 5G technology and vaccines, and say government recommendations to reduce harm must be urgently implemented and enforced.

Google and Facebook insist they are taking action.Read more on the human cost of virus misinformation.

Angie Brown
Edinburgh and East reporter

Image source, Andrew Johnson

The man in charge of Edinburgh's oldest purpose built visitor attraction said people would be able to touch and interact with exhibits "like normal".

Andrew Johnson, director of the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions on the Royal Mile, said visitors would have fun just like they did at his venue before the coronavirus lockdown.

He said people were not required to wear a mask in the attraction.

And said people did not have to book in advance.

Almost 1,500 people have visited the attraction, which was established in 1835, since it reopened its doors last Wednesday.

Image source, bbc

Close contacts of eight people who have tested positive at a contact tracing call centre in North Lanarkshire have been identified and given advice.

Sitel, which carries out contact tracing for NHS England, said it was aware of a "local outbreak" at its Motherwell site.

Public Health Scotland later confirmed that eight people had so far been identified as having the virus.

It said "almost all" the close contacts identified had been traced.

This will undoubtedly be the focus of today's Scottish government briefing - remember to join us earlier than usual, as it begins at 12.15pm.

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC has spent months speaking to scientists advising the government to try to find out how important the concept of herd immunity was to the strategy adopted at the beginning of the outbreak.

Herd immunity is achieved when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, either because they've caught it or been vaccinated.

Find out more by watching Panorama - Britain's Coronavirus Gamble on BBC iPlayer.