Nicola Sturgeon warns Scots more coronavirus restrictions may be imminent

But business leaders insisted a further blanket lockdown would be "unacceptable".

Ms Sturgeon said the public will be given as much notice as possible before new measures are brought into force, and indicated a decision could be made as soon as tomorrow.

She said Scotland is seeing a "rising tide of infection across the country".

During her regular coronavirus briefing, she said: "I would certainly hope that we could give at least a couple of days' notice of any restrictions that are going to kick in."

She said ministers want to keep schools open, but pointed to the fact they are about to enter the October holiday period.

The First Minister said: "Different local authorities have different holiday periods.

"We want to avoid changing school holidays.

"But there is also an opportunity over this next couple of weeks, two to three weeks in October, when not all schools are necessarily off at exactly the same time but there will be periods when most schools are off.

"And that perhaps gives an opportunity to try to reduce some of the transmission risks that we face - not in schools, because we believe schools are safe to go back, but that go round about schools."

Ms Sturgeon stressed there are no proposals to switch children to part-time schooling.

She said: "This is all about trying to manage this infection in a way that allows us to keep schools open."

There has been mounting speculation the Scottish Government will introduce a so-called "circuit breaker" lockdown during the October school holidays.

This could see tighter restrictions introduced for a period of around two weeks.

Ms Sturgeon said ministers are considering the latest clinical evidence, with the Cabinet due to meet tomorrow morning.

She said: "If we do decide more restrictions are necessary – and no decision has been taken yet – I want to give an assurance that we will endeavour to give you, the public, and of course the Scottish Parliament as much notice as possible, as well as a clear explanation of our reasons and rationale."

The First Minister stressed the Scottish Government does not impose restrictions lightly.

She indicated travel restrictions are being considered, and added that the 10pm curfew for bars and restaurants "is one of the areas where, to be frank, we may have to go further for a period".

The possibility of varying restrictions by location is also one of the "key considerations", she said.

Ms Sturgeon added: "If we feel there are further restrictions needed, are they needed nationwide, or are they needed on a local or regional basis?

"We haven't taken a decision on that yet."

Scots were banned from going into other people's homes last month.

Ms Sturgeon's comments came as figures showed a further 697 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 32,906.

Meanwhile, there are currently 218 people in hospital with Covid-19, a rise of eight on Sunday's total, although the number of people in intensive care was stable at 22.

The First Minister said rising infections can be seen across Scotland, with cases in every mainland health board area.

She added: "There is a rising tide of infection across the country, albeit it is higher in some parts than in others."

She also warned that the most recent statistics showed a "concerning" rise in transmission in older people.

Ms Sturgeon said this "underlines the fact that this resurgence of Covid, as it is in many countries, is affecting people across the different age groups".

Tim Allan, president of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, warned against reimposing blanket lockdown restrictions.

He said: “Talk of a further blanket lockdown is unacceptable to Scottish businesses.

"It would damage consumer and business confidence which have already taken an unprecedented economic hit throughout this crisis.

“Returning to national lockdown measures will take our economy back to square one - we simply cannot continue to keep switching the lights of the economy on and off.

"It risks not just jobs but the wellbeing of entire communities.

“Instead, we should focus on using the evidence we have to target problem areas.

"We have seen how Test and Trace and better data means we are in a much different place than at the start of the pandemic.

"The data the Scottish Government now has is sophisticated and detailed and will show which environments and geographical areas the virus is spreading.

"In the vast majority of cases, the recent growth and spread of the virus is not coming from business-managed environments.

"Companies across Scotland have invested heavily to protect its customers and employees - we are playing an outsized role in the fight against the spread of the virus.

“We know the virus will be with us for a long time.

"We must learn to manage it so we can carry on with our lives and protect livelihoods while keeping the risk of transmission as low as possible."