Nicola Sturgeon has said she would be “making it up” if she gave a specific date for the end of coronavirus restrictions.
Speaking at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon addressed the announcement of June 21 as a possible date for the end of restrictions in England.
“If I was to give you a fixed, hard and fast date right now, I would pretty much be making it up and I don’t think that’s the approach I should take with you,” she said.
“I’m not ruling out any specific dates, I want it to be as soon as possible and we have every reason to be hopeful that come the summer life will be much, much, much better than it is just now, but when I stand here and give you what I think the actual date when all or most restrictions will come to an end is going to be, I want to be as sure as I can be that is real and it can be delivered.”
Ms Sturgeon added: “I don’t just understand the frustrations that people have, I feel those frustrations.
“As has been the case all along, I’ll have to take decisions that sometimes you agree with and sometimes you disagree with, but I can assure you that the Scottish Government will continue to do our very best to lead the country as quickly but also as safely and sustainably through this horrible ordeal and out the other side of it.”
Care home visits
The Scottish Government will publish guidance on visits to adult care homes on Wednesday, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister said, where possible, care homes should be supporting up to two named visitors for each resident from March 1.
Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, she said: “That may not sound like much and we obviously hope to get back to even more normality in the weeks to come, but I know for many across the country, even that is a big step back to a more normal way of life.
“It’s not a complete return to normal yet, because there will still be a lot of Covid safety measures in place, face coverings, rigorous hygiene and the availability of testing, but it is nevertheless a very important way forward.”
Daily figures
Scotland has recorded 47 deaths from coronavirus and 798 positive tests in the past 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
It brings the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 7,053.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing, she said 199,637 people have tested positive in Scotland, up from the 198,839 previous day.
The daily test positivity rate is 3.9%, down from 4.8% in 24 hours.
There are 1,018 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, down 58 in 24 hours, and there was no change in those in intensive care which remains at 93.