Here are the main points from today's briefing:

• Scotland recorded 41 deaths of coronavirus patients and 966 positive cases in the past 24 hours
• There are 965 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, a fall of 17 in 24 hours
• Of these patients, 65 are in intensive care, down by four
• Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced an extension of rates relief for nurseries
• There will be no changes to Scotland's quarantine list for overseas travel
• UK government changes to quarantine for some business travellers do not apply to Scotland
• Mr Swinney confirms the vaccination programme will start on Tuesday and care homes will be included in the first priority group
• He says the programme will move as swiftly as possible but will rely on supplies of vaccines that have not yet been approved

That's all for today. Join us again for more live coverage next week.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie says he would like to see the terminally ill moved up the priority list for vaccines to give them more freedom in the last months of their lives.

He also calls for clarity and guidance on immunity passports after they were raised by the justice secretary earlier this week.

Mr Rennie says he is sceptical about them because they raise issues of “big databases and their impact on our personal life”.

Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist from the University of Leeds, tells the BBC One Scotland programme the Pfizer vaccine is safe.

He says testing has been done “very cleverly”, on a rolling basis, to ensure up-to-date data goes straight to the regulators, and cutting administrative and funding bottlenecks has accelerated the process.

“But no corners have been cut whatsoever,” Dr Griffin adds.

He says there may be very rare cases where people have adverse reactions to the vaccine but that has to be weighed against the tremendous benefit of vaccinating the population against “this absolutely dreadful virus”.

Image source, PA Media

Mr Swinney, who is also Scotland's education secretary, says he is looking closely at the data from schools around the country on how pupils have been affected by either having Covid or having to self-isolate as a result of the virus.

He says there is a concern that the impact of isolation has hit people in the more deprived areas hardest.

Mr Swinney had previously said a decision on whether to go ahead with the Higher exams could be made as late as February.

He told the briefing he did not want to make it that late and would come to it as early as he can.

He says the decision will be a product of observing how much disruption there has been to the education of young people.

National Clinical Director Jason Leitch is asked whether gyms should be open in level 4 areas for physical and mental health reasons.

He says level 4 was designed to push down the rates of the virus and was necessarily quite severe.

Prof Leitch says the level 4 restrictions will end on 11 December, and there will be an announcement next week on what level each local authority will be in.

"At level 3 gyms are allowed to be open for individual, personal exercise," he says. "They are not risk free."

David Henderson from BBC Scotland asks why Scotland cannot hold a full exam diet for school students if England can do it.

John Swinney says the National Five exams, accounting for 60% of school exams, have already been cancelled to allow students and their teachers to concentrate on continuous assessment.

He says he is keen to clarify the situation for Highers and Advanced Highers as soon as possible.

He wants to give young people an "equal chance" to perform well, despite the level of disruption some of them have experienced this year.

John Swinney is asked whether Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are at risk of tighter restrictions.

The deputy first minister says they are monitoring the area closely, but there appears to be a greater problem in Aberdeenshire than in Aberdeen city.

The government is trying to identify the degree to which outbreaks in meat and fish processing plants are feeding community transmission, he adds.

Prof Leitch adds that the infection rate in Aberdeen is a “mixed picture” and “not universal good news”.

In Aberdeenshire “everything is up”, he says. Case level is 21% up in the past seven days and test positivity has gone up to 5.3%.

The deputy first minister says the aim is to have the first phase of the vaccination programme completed by spring next year but this is dependent on the supply being increased by the approval of other vaccines.

"Clearly if there are delays in supplies they will impact our timings but we will move as swiftly and effectively as vaccine supplies allow," he says.

He says the priority groups, which also include those over 50 and people with severe illnesses, should cover about 99% of the people who die from Covid.

Mr Swinney says the risk of Covid is much lower for those under 50 but there is still a serious risk of debilitating illness.

Image source, getty

Mr Swinney confirms that the rollout of vaccinations will begin on Tuesday next week.

He says the first people to be vaccinated will be those who are vaccinating everyone else.

"We will then follow the independent advice we have received from the joint committee on vaccines and immunisation," he says.

Priorities will be:

• Frontline healthcare workers
• Residents and workers in care homes for older people
• People over 80

Mr Swinney says the Pfizer vaccine will begin to reach care homes by 14 December.

The deputy first minister announces support for the childcare sector.

He says day nurseries have faced financial pressure as a result of the pandemic.

Qualifying day nurseries will continue to benefit from 100% relief on non-domestic rates until at least June 2023.

Mr Swinney says that in 2020/21 the relief had been worth on average more than £12,000 to each eligible nursery.

John Swinney tells the media briefing there is no change to the quarantine list this week.

Mr Swinney points to the changes introduced by the UK government yesterday. They relaxed the quarantine rules for some business travellers.

Mr Swinney stresses that these rules only apply to people travelling to England.

The rules for Scotland remain unchanged, he says.

965 patients are in hospital with a confirmed case (down 17), with 65 being treated in intensive care (down four).

There have been a further 41 deaths registered in the preceding 24 hours of a person who had the virus, taking the total to 3,889.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney confirms a further 966 people have tested positive for Covid-19. That is 4.2% of total number of tests carried out.

This takes the total number of positive cases in Scotland to 98,686.

Health board breakdown:

Mr Swinney says the provisional data indicates the breakdown of new cases is as follows:

• NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde: 258
• NHS Lanarkshire: 166
• NHS Lothian: 117

The remaining are spread across the eight other mainland health board areas.

1. Scottish government: Coronavirus (COVID-19): what you can and cannot do, external

View guidance for the festive period, external. Full guidance and latest figures on the government's main Coronavirus page, external.

2.Postcode checke, externalr for COVID restrictions by protection level in areas of Scotland

3.NHS Inform, external

The latest from NHS Scotland and the Scottish government, including social distancing, face covering and stay at home advice.

4.Test and Protect, external

If you have Covid-19 symptoms go immediately to NHS Inform online or phone 0800 028 2816 to book a test

5. Theready.scot, externalwebsite

It has been updated with the latest help and advice and how you can help others. The helpline number remains: 0800 111 4000

6.The Clear Your Head website, external

It's ok to not feel yourself right now, here are some tips to help get you through the pandemic.

Image source, getty

• Care home residents in Scotland will be able to receive the Covid vaccine from 14 December
• The first batches of the vaccine, which arrive in Scotland on Tuesday, will be given to health staff and vaccinators
• People in Scotland will start to receive a Covid-19 vaccine from next week
• The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland says every health board in the country has access to the freezers needed for the Pfizer coronvirus vaccine

Image source, Getty Images

• The education secretary confirmsthere will be no extension to Scotland's school Christmas holidays
• John Swinney also says there will be a staggered return of students to Scotland's university and college campuses in January. Covid-19 testing will also be in place
• Regulations to legally prevent eviction notices over Christmas are to be introduced
• A further 51 deaths with Covid have been registered in the last 24 hoursThe first minister says the R number continues to be shown to be just below one

Image source, Getty Images

Welcome to BBC Scotland's rolling coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland on Friday 4 December 2020.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney will provide an update on the Covid-19 pandemic at the government's daily briefing, beginning at 12.15pm.

He will be joined by Scotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch.