Thread by @theSNP

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "Thanks for joining us again today.

As usual, I'll run through today's statistics first of all.

There were 848 new positive cases reported yesterday, which is 9.5% of the total number of tests."

NS: "That means the overall number of confirmed cases is now 180,533.

244 of those new cases were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 167 in Lanarkshire, and 111 in Lothian."

NS: "The remaining cases were spread across 9 other health board areas.

1,958 people are currently in hospital with Covid which is 17 more than yesterday.

143 people are in intensive care, that is the same number as yesterday."

NS: "And I’m sorry to report that 6 additional deaths have been registered over the past 24 hours, of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days."

NS: "As you will recall, though, the figures we report on a Monday are often low, because registration offices are largely closed over the weekend."

NS: "Since the last media update on Friday, 72 new deaths have been recorded. That means the total number of deaths, under this daily measurement, is now 6,112."

NS: "Every single one of those deaths was of an individual, who will be missed and is being mourned by families and friends.

Yet again today, as I always do, I want to convey my thoughts and condolences to everybody who is mourning a loved one."

NS: "I am joined today by the Chief Medical Officer, who will shortly help me address questions.

Before then, let me update on a couple of issues.

Firstly, let me highlight that there will not be a 12.15 media briefing here tomorrow."

NS: "Instead, I will make a statement to Parliament tomorrow - shortly after 2pm - to give an update on the latest data and what that means for lockdown restrictions."

NS: "That statement will set out our latest thinking on how much longer the current restrictions may need to continue - we have already said that they will last until at least the middle of February."

NS: "The statement will also provide more detail on other steps we are planning to help us to keep the virus under control, even when we do start to gradually ease lockdown."

NS: "The first thing I'll say - and I'll go into more detail on this tomorrow - is that the current lockdown is working. I think you can see that in the figures we're reporting every day."

NS: "It is helping to reduce the number of cases in Scotland. We should all take encouragement from that.

That said, case numbers are still too high. Much higher than we'd want them to be."

NS: "We need to get them down further and we need to keep them as low as possible."

NS: "Obviously, the vaccine is the most important tool we have at our disposal just now - and I’ll update a little bit on progress towards vaccination towards the end of my remarks."

NS: "But even with the vaccine programme, there's still more we need to do.

For example, as we suppress the virus more and more within our own borders, we need to do all we can to prevent new cases - and especially new strains - entering the country."

NS: "Just as I was preparing for the briefing I saw news from Surrey today, where door-to-door testing is getting underway because some cases of the South African variant have been identified there in people with no travel history."

NS: "So the threat of new variants, new strains of this virus, remains a real one - and that means we have to be ever-more vigilant in trying to stop the virus coming into the country."

NS: "Of course, we also need to continue, as we have been, to improve our own surveillance so we can quickly identify cases, clusters, and outbreaks, and get them under control as quickly as possible."

NS: "So tomorrow’s statement will also say a bit more about other measures we'll be taking to help us to control the virus, suppress it, and in time, start to gradually ease the lockdown restrictions."

NS: "Firstly, to reduce the risk of the virus entering the country, we have already agreed with other countries across the UK to supervise quarantine from some countries. However, as I said last week, the current UK-wide proposals don't go far enough."

NS: "So tomorrow we will provide more information about the extent to which we intend to operate supervised quarantine here in Scotland.

We will also set out some additional measures we are working on to make travel restrictions more effective than they are already."

NS: "As well as preventing new cases from entering Scotland, of course, we must also be able identify cases within the country - especially in areas where rates of transmission are high, or where, after having suppressed more than is the case right now, they start to rise again."

NS: "You'll recall that in December we conducted pilots of large-scale community testing. In selected communities we offered Covid tests to anyone who wanted one, regardless of whether or not they had symptoms."

NS: "We have been assessing these pilots over the last few weeks. At the same time, local authorities have been sending us their proposals for much more extensive use of community testing."

NS: "In parallel to that we've been considering whether routine testing can help reduce the risk of outbreaks in certain workplaces and businesses where transmission is a particular risk - food processing plants being an example."

NS: "We will set out our latest thinking and plans on all of those issues tomorrow."

NS: "In addition to that, and most importantly, actually, tomorrow’s review will also consider schools and early years provision - and will set out our most up-to-date thinking on how and when we might be able to start to resume in-person learning and childcare."

NS: "Obviously, all of us want to do that just as soon as possible. I'll also provide tomorrow information on some expanded arrangements for testing in those settings as well."

NS: "In addition, and lastly, the statement tomorrow will give an update on where we are with the vaccination programme, but I want to give you an update on that today as well."

NS: "As of 8.30 this morning, 575,897 people in Scotland had received their first dose of the vaccine.

That includes 98% of all residents in older care homes."

NS: "To be clear, that's not just 98% of people in our older care homes being offered the vaccine - that is 98% who have now received the first dose of the vaccine."

NS: "In addition, 88% of the staff working in older people's care homes have also now had that first dose of vaccine."

NS: "A really important step in order to help protect the people we know are most vulnerable to this virus. We saw that with great distress earlier in the pandemic - those who are frail and vulnerable in our care homes."

NS: "However, in addition, 80% of those over 80 living in the community have also now received their first dose of the vaccine – meaning that we are ahead of schedule to complete first doses for that age group by Friday."

NS: "Obviously we'll be trying as close to 100% uptake in every group as possible, but 80%, as we get above 80% we're already getting to the kinds of uptake figures that we see routinely with the flu vaccination programme."

NS: "So that is good progress to report on over-80s."

NS: "Vaccination of the over-70 group is now underway as well - already, 14% of over-75s have been vaccinated already - and this number, with the number for over-70s overall, will accelerate over the course of this week."

NS: "By the end of this week, everyone aged 70-79, and every adult in what we call the extremely clinically vulnerable group, will have received an invitation letter inviting them to receive their first dose of the vaccine."

NS: "We are well on track for everyone in these groups to have received their first dose by mid-February."

NS: "Many people aged 65 to 69 have also received appointment letters, and more for that age group will be going out this week, particularly in Lothian, Grampian, and Greater Glasgow and Clyde."

NS: "And lastly on vaccination for now, as you may have seen in the media this morning, today marks an important stage in the vaccination programme, with mass centres opening at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, and at the P&J Live complex in Aberdeen."

NS: "The Edinburgh centre will be able to administer 21,000 vaccine doses each week, and the Aberdeen centre will have an initial ability of 6,000.

The mass vaccination centre in Glasgow, at the NHS Louisa Jordan, is already up and running."

NS: "Other vaccination centres are opening across Scotland - many of these in smaller communities will be located in facilities such as village halls and sports centres."

NS: "By the end of this week, more than 150 of those will be operational in different parts of the country - this is of course in addition to the centres and GP practices that have been administering vaccines for the last few weeks."

NS: "Assuming supplies of the vaccine come through as we expect them to, this expansion of capacity means that we are confident of meeting all our targets for vaccinating different groups of people."

NS: "I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to and thank all those who are working so hard across the country to get these shots of vaccine into people's arms."

NS: "Last point I want to make is just to remind people - particularly those who have already received the first dose or who might be receiving it over the course of the next few days..."

NS: "..you must remember that it doesn't start to have a protective effect until, we estimate, about two weeks after you receive it."

NS: "At that point, while we know it will help to protect you from becoming seriously ill if you get Covid, we don't yet know whether it will stop you getting Covid, or transmitting it to other people."

NS: "The reason I'm making these points right now is just to remind you that, notwithstanding the good progress we're making in vaccination, that doesn't yet mean we can relax, that even those who get the vaccine will be able to relax restrictions straight away."

NS: "It continues to be the case that these restrictions are important to suppress the virus to lower levels than it's at right now, and of course, they only work if everybody sticks with them..."

NS: "..including people who have received, or who are about to receive, the first shot of the vaccine."

NS: "So, please, everybody, my plea as usual is to stick to the lockdown rules."

NS: "These rules, as usual, are what I want to quickly recap on before moving on to questions. Of course, the most important ask we're making of everybody right now is stay at home as much as you possibly can."

NS: "Only leave your home for essential purposes, whether that's caring responsibilities, essential shopping, exercise, work that genuinely can't be done from home."

NS: "Meeting outdoors, please limit those to one other person from one other household.

Work from home whenever you can. Employers, remember you have a legal duty to support people to work from home wherever possible."

NS: "And if you are out for essential purposes, please remember all of the FACTS advice."

NS: "Wear face coverings, for example, if you're doing essential shopping. Avoid places that are busy. Clean your hands and clean hard surfaces. Use two-metres distancing if you're meeting with another person outdoors. Self-isolate and get tested if you have symptoms."

NS: "We are, at this stage, making good progress through lots of hard sacrifice. We're also making good progress through the vaccination programme. But the virus remains a real threat, it remains at higher levels than we'd want it to be, so we've still got work to do."

NS: "I'm grateful to everybody for your cooperation with that. So let me leave you with the usual advice today. Please stay at home to help protect the NHS and, of course, save lives."