Covid in Scotland: 'Cautious optimism' over spread of virus - BBC News
Tough restrictions on household visits and hospitality are starting to have an effect", the first minister says.
Tough restrictions on household visits and hospitality are starting to have an effect on the spread of Covid-19 in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

A new five-level system of restrictions came into force on Monday.

The first minister said the "R number" metric - showing on average how many people each patient with the virus will infect - had dropped to about one.

She said she still could not rule out a full lockdown, but said Scotland was in a "better position" than England.

A further 1,216 cases of coronavirus were registered on Thursday, along with the deaths of 39 who had tested positive.

The number of people in hospital dropped by five to 1,252, while the number of patients in intensive care rose by one, to 95.

Ms Sturgeon said admissions to hospital had been "slightly lower" over the past seven days compared with previous weeks, saying this provided "very tentative and cautious grounds for optimism."

She said: "Scotland is in a relatively strong position because of the decisions we are taking, and the compliance of the public."

The government will continue to monitor the figures ahead of the first review of the five-level system next Tuesday.

Ms Sturgeon said she particularly wanted to see a clearer reduction in the number of cases as Scotland moves deeper into winter.

She said: "There is no room for complacency, and that's why we should all continue to abide by the rules and why we will consider very carefully whether we need to take any further steps - either next week or in the weeks after that."

There have previously been suggestions that the government could introduce travel restrictions in law or move some areas or even the whole country into the top level of restrictions.

At her weekly question session at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon was pressed by opposition leaders about the readiness of the NHS for winter and a second wave of the virus.

Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson raised the concerns of health staff who say the NHS is "facing a perfect storm" due to shortages of staff and hospital beds.

The first minister insisted that "we are not short right now of staff or beds", but said "we do face a very challenging winter".

She said: "Our NHS is under intense pressure. We look closely at bed capacity and intensive care capacity literally on a daily basis across all the health boards of Scotland as we take judgements to ensure we are giving the health service the best chance of coping through winter."

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said NHS staff absences due to stress and poor mental health had been rising for years, and the pandemic was "just the tip of the iceberg".

Ms Sturgeon said she worried "deeply" about the strain health staff are under, saying plans were in place to support their mental health.
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