New restrictions will ‘almost certainly’ be in place in the next few days

New restrictions will “almost certainly” be put in place in the next couple of days, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, the First Minister said that “fast and urgent action” was needed to tackle the spread of the virus.

This comes as there were 255 new cases confirmed in the past 24 hours and 6.3 per cent of tests came back positive.

Sturgeon said measures had been considered over the weekend and were still under consideration, but they were close to making a decision.

An announcement of the new restrictions will be made in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Sturgeon will speak to by phone Boris Johnson this afternoon and a COBRA meeting will take place tomorrow morning for the first time in four months to discuss the response.

The First Minster said she would prefer a four-nations approach but would go ahead without it if necessary.

She said: “I need to be absolutely straight with people across Scotland that additional restrictions will almost certainly be put in place in Scotland over the next couple of days.

“Hopefully this will be with four nations alignment, but if necessary, it will have to happen without that.”

She said that while she would allow some more time for discussion across the four nations, “the urgency of this situation will mean that we cannot, must not and will not wait too long.”

The First Minister also announced that financial support will be put in place for people who lose income because they have to self-isolate.

The details of the package are still to be finalised.