Nicola Sturgeon says she will indicate as far as she can dates for sectors to reopen in the future, conditional on suppression of the virus.

She calls on people not to drop their guard and "give themselves a shake".

The first minister stresses again people must follow the five pieces of advice in FACTS: They are:

• Face coverings in enclosed spaces
• Avoid crowded places
• Clean hands and surfaces regularly
• Two metre distancing; and
• Self-isolate and book a test if you have symptoms.

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister says it is still too early to be sure about the impact of the changes already made, eg in terms of hospitality and tourism.

Ms Sturgeon points out some very major changes will be made in the next three weeks.

For example, she says that she hopes tomorrow to announce the pausing of shielding by the end of the month and the return of schools full-time by 11 August.

The first minister explains there won't be very much room for any other changes.

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister explains the new Public Health Scotland "Covid dashboard" will include much more detailed information.

So you will be able to find out exactly how many women and men in a certain age range tested positive on a certain day.

Ms Sturgeon explains the new dashboard should help people see data about the pandemic in their area.

The dashboard will use local data to colour code local authority areas based on the proportion of neighbourhoods which exceed 55 cases per 100,000 over a seven-day period.

The first minister says that figure is considerably higher than the current prevalence of Covid in the population.

Ms Sturgeon says from 2pm today Public Health Scotland will be presenting a much wider range of Covid information on its website.

The first minister hopes this will be found to be more accessible.

Public Health Scotland will publish a new "Covid dashboard" which will include summary data of both cases and deaths.

This will be broken down both by health board and local authority.

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister says there have been discussions with the other three nations of the UK about better data provision in terms of PPE provision.

Ms Sturgeon explains the first PPE report will be published on the Scottish government website today and shows:

• last week more than 16 million items of PPE distributed across Scotland
• these include 12 million gloves, three million masks and nearly one million aprons
• since 1 March more than 362 million items of PPE have been distributed

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister says the number of Covid deaths rose very slightly last week, yet there were no deaths reported at all in the daily figures.

Four of the deaths were in hospital, two were in care homes and two were in other settings, for example at home.

The reason the four deaths in hospital were not registered in the daily figures is because the patients tested positive more than 28 days ago, explains the first minister.

Image source, Getty Images

260 patients are in hospital with a confirmed case (down four), with two being treated in intensive care.

The first minister says there have been no new Covid admissions to ICU since 9 July.

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

A National Records of Scotland weekly report, just published, indicates that between 20-26 July, eight deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

This is an increase of two deaths from the previous week.

A total of 4,201 Scots deaths have been linked to Covid-19, according to the NRS figures.

This is the second lowest weekly total for deaths involving Covid-19 since the first death was recorded in early March.

Deaths involving Covid-19 accounted for 1% of all deaths registered from 20-26 July, a proportion which has fallen steadily from 20-26 April, when Covid-19 deaths accounted for 36% of all deaths.

The NRS figures are higher than the daily figures announced by Nicola Sturgeon because they include all cases where Covid-19 is mentioned on a death certificate, even if the patient had not been tested.

Nicola Sturgeon confirms 18,580 people now have tested positive for Covid-19, an increase of 22 from yesterday.

That's 0.7% of those that were newly tested yesterday.

She says 14 of the 22 new cases are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area.

A possible cluster of patients is under investigation by the health board and an incident management meeting will take place later this afternoon, she says.

Nicola Sturgeon will shortly lead today's Scottish government coronavirus briefing.

The first minister has warned she’s “likely to adopt a very cautious approach” at tomorrow’s review of lockdown restrictions.

She is also expected to confirm a full-time return for primary and secondary school pupils from 11 August tomorrow.

At today's briefing the first minister is joined by:

• Finance Secretary Kate Forbes
• Interim Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith

A total of 4,201 Scots deaths have been linked to Covid-19, official figures show.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures indicate between 20 and 26 July, eight deaths were registered that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

This is an increase of two deaths from the previous week.

This is the second lowest weekly total for deaths involving Covid-19 since the first death was recorded in early March.

Deaths involving Covid-19 accounted for 1% of all deaths registered from 20 to 26 July, a proportion which has fallen steadily from 20 to 26 April, when Covid-19 deaths accounted for 36% of all deaths.

The figures are higher than the daily figures announced by Nicola Sturgeon because they include all cases where Covid-19 is mentioned on a death certificate, even if the patient had not been tested.

If you're just joining us, here's a reminder of today's headlines:

• The cabinet will meet and are likely to approve plans that will see pupils back from 11 August, although an official announcement is expected on Thursday
• The majority of parents think blended or part-time learning has had a negative impact on their children, a new survey has found

Image source, PA Media

• The number of rail services operating in Scotland is to be increased from next week, ScotRail has said.
• The reopening dates for three of Scotland's major museums have been confirmed
• Retailers across Scotland lost £1.9bn during first four months of pandemic

Young people are predominantly responsible for recent outbreaks of Covid-19 in Europe - according to the World Health Organisation.

It says it must rethink how it engages them in the fight against the virus.

Its director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge says the younger generation have a responsibility to adopt good, healthy behaviour - to protect parents and grandparents.

If you are just joining us, here's an update on the pandemic across the UK.

This includes:

• UK researchers are to receive millions of pounds of government funding to study why people from an ethnic minority background are significantly more likely to die from Covid-19 than the white population.
• A wave of firms kept afloat during lockdown are facing cliff-edge in the autumn, according to BBC analysis.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Linda Bauld, professor of public health at Edinburgh University, says the United Kingdom is at risk of seeing a similar rise in cases to other countries in Europe if we don't strictly follow hygiene and distancing measures.

"We are all at risk," she told BBC Radio Scotland, in reference to worrying increases in numbers in Spain, France, Germany and Belgium since lockdown restrictions were eased.

"It is a warning for every country that we still need to follow the guidelines," Prof Bauld says. "There is free movement again with more people moving across borders. It is a fragile situation but I’m feeling really optimistic."

Despite warnings of a 'second wave' of the virus - a term used from previous flu epidemics and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, we are not seeing that with Covid-19 yet, Prof Bauld says.

"It is a media term at the moment," she adds. "At the moment we have 16 million global cases, which is double what it was six weeks ago So we are still in the first wave of this virus.

"What we’re seeing in the UK, for example in Oldham, is you get the virus down to a low level and then you get spikes. I prefer to talk about spikes."

During the coronavirus pandemic more people died with the virus in Scotland's care homes than in its hospitals.

The latest figures show almost 1,900 deaths in care homes where Covid-19 is on the death certificate.

Last night a BBC Disclosure programme, The Care Home Scandal, looked at what went wrong.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she would expect questions on the programme at today's coronavirus briefing, which begins at 12.15pm.

• The cabinet will meet and are likely to approve plans that will see pupils back from 11 August, although an official announcement is expected on Thursday
• The majority of parents think blended or part-time learning has had a negative impact on their children, a new survey has found

Image source, PA

• The number of rail services operating in Scotland is to be increased from next week, ScotRail has said.
• The reopening dates for three of Scotland's major museums have been confirmed
• Retailers across Scotland lost £1.9bn during first four months of pandemic

UK scientists are to receive millions of pounds of government funding for a raft of studies to learn why people from an ethnic minority background are at greater risk from Covid-19.

Six projects will analyse data on social circumstances, health and day-to-day activities, as well as investigating genetic risk factors.

One will follow 30,000 health and social-care staff for a year.

Researchers say there will be rapid action based on the findings.

Read more here.

Good Morning Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Quarantine is an "effective" measure to contain the spread of coronavirus in Scotland, according to Linda Bauld, professor of public health at Edinburgh University.

Acknowledging it is "deeply unpopular" and "incredibly frustrating" for people contemplating overseas travel and holidays, Prof Bauld says it is a "tried and tested approach" that has been used in other public health emergencies.

"We're going to have a lot of people coming back into Scotland, who have quite understandably gone away for a break, and we really must adhere to it," she told BBC Radio Scotland.

Prof Bauld says isolating at home is effective because the incubation period is about five days when you come into contact with the virus, and 99% of people who may have been infected will develop symptoms within that 14-day period.

"If we can adhere to that, it is going to make a big difference," she adds. "It means that people coming back in won’t transfer it onto others. Otherwise we’ll see those cases rise again if they do.”