Nicola Sturgeon says a decision on whether to move Scotland into Level 0 Covid protection measures on schedule will be announced next week.

As cases across Scotland continue to rise, the First Minister gave an update in a press conference on Thursday on plans to move the country into level 0 on July 19.

Ms Sturgeon says she will confirm the government's decision to Parliament on Tuesday, July 13.

And while July 19 remains the date for when level 0 restrictions could take effect, Ms Sturgeon said it was vital for people to remain cautious.

Ms Sturgeon said: "We increasingly see talk of "learning to live with the virus", which we all want to be able to do.

"And it is true that we can't live a restricted way of life forever - because that in itself affects our health and wellbeing.

"And it's also true that, thankfully, vaccines are offering us a helpful way forward.

"However, that desire to "just live with it" cannot mean that we throw all caution to the wind and no longer worry at all about rising levels of infection.

"And I want to set out simply why we can't just throw all caution to the wind.

"Firstly, this virus is still dangerous, as we see every day.

"It is still taking lives, though mercifully thanks to the vaccines, it is doing so in far fewer numbers than we saw in earlier stages."

This morning, July 8, the UK Transport Secretary confirmed that travellers returning to the UK after travelling to an amber list country will no longer have to self isolate for 10 days.

And Ms Sturgeon was asked if these rules will be replicated in Scotland

The First Minister replied: "We are considering that carefully, and we will come to a decision on that fairly soon in terms of people returning to Scotland."

It was also confirmed that there were 2,802 new cases of Covid-19 reported yesterday, and four new reported deaths of people who have tested positive. 

38 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed Covid-19, and 401 were in hospital with the disease.