Thread by @theSNP

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "Hello, thanks for joining us again today. I will give you, to start with, the daily statistics."

NS: "The total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 961. That is 17.1% of people newly tested, and takes the total number of cases to 39,959."

NS: "359 of the cases are in Greater Glasgow & Clyde, 244 in Lanarkshire, 112 in Lothian and 88 in Ayrshire & Arran. The remaining cases are spread across 8 other health board areas. The only health boards without cases today are Orkney and Shetland."

NS: "I can also confirm that 487 people are currently in hospital, which is an increase of 38 since yesterday. And 36 people are in intensive care - that's 1 more than yesterday."

NS: "It's important to stress, in light of, particularly, the hospital number that I've just given you there, that rising hospital admissions was a factor in our decision to take action and bring in temporary restrictions last week."

NS: "Finally, in the past 24 hours, no additional deaths were registered of patients first testing positive within the previous 28 days, however, I would remind you again that registration offices are largely closed on a Sunday."

NS: "So that is not an unexpected figure to be reporting today. Since the last briefing on Friday, though, six additional deaths have been registered, which means the total number of deaths under the measurement we use in these daily figures is now 2,550."

NS: "Again, that reminds us that this can be a deadly virus for some people, and I want again to send my thoughts to everybody who has lost a loved one, and in particular, to those who have been bereaved in recent days."

NS: "There's three issues I want to cover briefly today, and then the Health Secretary is going to say a word or two before she, I, and the Chief Medical Officer take questions."

NS: "The first thing I want to reflect on is that the weekend just passed of course was the first with new temporary restrictions in place, so I thought it was appropriate to start by saying thank you to individuals and businesses across the country."

NS: "The anecdotal evidence, early anecdotal evidence we have so far from the police would suggest that compliance with the new rules, and with rules in general over the weekend, has been good. That's encouraging."

NS: "These new restrictions are really tough for everybody, and they are tough for businesses particularly in the hospitality sector. Nobody is unaware of that."

NS: "But they are vital for helping to stem the increase in cases, bring it back under control, and stem the increase in hospital admissions and illness that we have been seeing."

NS: "So it's really important that everybody sticks with them, because if people don't stick with them, they will not be as effective as they need to be."

NS: "So the initial signs from the weekend suggest that that is happening, and is the reason I want to say a very big thank-you to everybody across the country."

NS: "Second point to update on is that I've just not long ago come from a COBRA meeting with the Prime Minister, and the leaders of the other devolved governments."

NS: "The main topic of discussion this morning was the UK Government's proposal for a three-tier system of alerts for different parts of England. We saw the detail of their proposal this morning but we will look at it very closely."

NS: "As I said to Parliament last week, we intend to develop our own tiering framework and take that to Parliament after the October recess."

NS: "And of course that will coincide with the ending of the temporary reset restrictions announced last week."

NS: "At a strategic level, we will be looking to align as closely as possible with the other UK nations. I think it is important and it makes sense to try to do that."

NS: "Though I would stress that operational decisions about which tiers might apply in which parts of our nations will be for each of us to take at a devolved level."

NS: "The publication of a new framework will be a key step to guide us through the next phase of the pandemic, but it's by no means the only step we will be taking over the next couple of weeks."

NS: "What we want to do is ensure these temporary restrictions don't simply slow or reverse the increase in cases for a while - although that is clearly important - before things return to normal or as they were before these restrictions afterwards."

NS: "What we want to do is use the two weeks to secure a longer term benefit and greater resilience as we know we will be living with this virus for some time yet to come."

NS: "So, for example, as I indicated last week, later this week we'll introduce new regulations to extend the mandatory use of face coverings in indoor communal settings - for example staff canteens and corridors in workplaces."

NS: "We're also going to be taking action to strengthen compliance with the different strands of the FACTS advice. That will focus, particularly, on self-isolation - because that is so essential to reducing and preventing transmission."

NS: "But it's also an area where we know, for understandable reasons, that compliance is not yet as high as we need it to be."

NS: "We are also talking to different sectors of the economy - including hospitality and retail - to help them ensure they can operate even more safely in future."

NS: "For example, we have already asked shops to return to 2m physical distancing and to reintroduce other measures, such as one-way systems, that they had in place earlier on in the pandemic."

NS: "Finally, as I said last week in Parliament, we are reviewing again our testing strategy. As we continue to expand our testing capacity, we're looking at the basis on which we would test more people..."

NS: "..including groups of people who don't have symptoms but who may, if the virus is not detected, help to generate or risk community transmission or transmission where people are vulnerable."

NS: "So we'll be working hard over the next two weeks to further improve how we control the pandemic, while living as freely as possible for individuals and businesses."

NS: "We will be seeking to ensure that, as we exit the reset restrictions two weeks from now, we do that on a more resilient footing."

NS: "But, as ever, and this will be the point I close on, government measures can't work on their own. They're really important but we all need to play our part in getting and keeping the virus under control."

NS: "That gets harder, as the months go on, for all of us. I think we're all acutely aware of that now, and I'm sure it has seemed especially difficult over the most recent weekend as new restrictions came in force."

NS: "But I want to make a special plea today, to everybody, to continue to stick to all of the rules and the guidance. Please don't think that it is safe to cut corners."

NS: "I know just how tempting it is to visit friends or family right now or have them visit us. I know that it might feel that, on any individual occasion one of us does that, it's harmless. But it is not harmless."

NS: "Because every time one of us does that, we are giving the virus the opportunity to spread from one household to another, and we know that is the big risk that we face right now."

NS: "The fact is, the virus is spreading too rapidly right now from household to household, and that is the key issue we are trying to address. So please do stick to that very important rule and don't visit other people in their homes at the moment."

NS: "Also, as you know, and as I've been reflecting on, there are additional restrictions on hospitality across the country right now, but particularly in five health board regions - Lothian, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley, Ayrshire & Arran, and Greater Glasgow & Clyde."

NS: "In an addition to the hospitality restrictions in these areas, we're asking people who live in these areas not to travel outside them, if they don't need to."

NS: "So if you live in Greater Glasgow & Clyde, don't travel outside Greater Glasgow & Clyde if you don't really need to."

NS: "We're not insisting that people cancel October holiday plans, but we're asking more generally, please avoid travel that you don't need to take to different parts of Scotland or the UK."

NS: "In addition to that, and this applies to people across Scotland, when you do travel, please be very careful, be especially cautious, if you're travelling, whether in Scotland or the rest of the UK, to places that are seeing high rates of infection."

NS: "We've seen a number of Covid cases in recent weeks coming through our Test & Protect system which have been associated with travel, often coach travel, to other parts of the UK."

NS: "That underlines how important it is to be careful. Make sure you're wearing face coverings, observing physical distancing and taking all other precautionary measures."

NS: "Alongside these guidelines on travel there are, of course, other important rules that apply to everyone across Scotland, no matter where we live."

NS: "As I said a moment ago, please don't visit other people's homes right now, except for very specific purposes like childcare or caring for a vulnerable person."

NS: "I know that's a tough restriction but it is possibly the most important one that we're being asked to comply with right now."

NS: "When we do meet outdoors, or in indoor public places like cafes, the maximum group size should be six - and those six people should come form no more than two different households."

NS: "Work from home if you can. Download the Protect Scotland app if you haven't done so already. And finally, remember FACTS."

NS: "These are the key bits of advice that, if we all follow, we will reduce the chances the virus has to spread."

NS: "So wear face coverings if you're out and about but particularly in closed spaces. Avoid crowded places. Clean your hands and clean hard surfaces. Two-metres distance from other households. And self-isolate and get tested if you have any of the symptoms."

NS: "These are the rules that help us look after ourselves and minimise our own risk of getting Covid but also the rules that help us look after each other, and minimise the risk of any of us inadvertently passing it on to someone else."

NS: "If all of us follow these rules then each one of us will play our part in the collective endeavour of keeping the virus under control. Thanks again to everybody for continuing to abide by these rules."

NS: "Please help spread the word to others and encourage them to do so as well."