Nicola Sturgeon said the covid rules introduced before Christmas will start to be lifted from next week.

The limit of 500 spectators at live outdoor events will be lifted from Monday, January 17.

The First Minister said there is a "tentative view that there are some grounds for cautious optimism that measures introduced before Christmas, the actions of the public and booster vaccines have made a difference". 

She said: "We will begin to lift mesures in a careful way, starting with limits on live outdoor events."

The First Minister said the situation was "undoubtedly serious but less than it might have been".

She said it would be even more challenging without those measures and actions.

Sturgeon said there are "early indications it might be starting to improve and cases have fallen in all age groups except over 85s".

She said cabinet reached decisions to lift some measures from Monday and further details will follow next week, where she hopes to lift the indoor live event restrictions.

The guidance on not meeting indoors with more than two other households remains in place.

 Statistics

There were 13,392 new positive cases recorded yesterday with PCR tests.

There were 1479 people in hospital with Covid 19, up by 47, and there were 65 patients in intensive care.

Another 16  people died who had tested positive for covid 19 in the last 28 days.