NICOLA Sturgeon has indicated that Fife could be placed into Level 3 of her tiered framework after cases and hospital admissions continue to soar.

Fife, currently in Level 2 of the five-tiered strategy, has recorded rising number of infections in recent days – leading to the First Minister admitting it's an area she is “looking at very closely” ahead of Tuesday’s review of the levels.

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Ms Sturgeon stressed that no decisions have been taken yet as to whether any moves will be taken, but discussions will continue over the weekend and ahead of Tuesday for all council areas.

Fife has recorded an extra 448 cases over the last 10 days while hospital admissions have more than doubled.

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Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said: “In relation to Fife, we will be looking, over the weekend in advance of Tuesday at all local authorities – their case numbers per 100,000, the direction of travel with infection if it’s rising or falling, what the projections are for hospital capacity.

“We will be applying judgement to that and coming to decisions about whether each local authority is in the right level now or whether they need to go up a level or whether in some, and we expect a limited number of cases if at all, come down a level at this stage.”

She added: “Fife, and I don’t want to pre-empt those decisions before they are taken. Suffice to say, Fife is one of the local authorities that we will be looking at very closely. I certainly wouldn’t rule out the application of a higher level to Fife at this stage but nor am I indicating that’s a decision that is taken.

“We do see some indicators in Fife that give us pause for thought and a bit of concern.”

The First Minister was asked whether travel from Edinburgh and the Central Belt to Fife could be contributing to the rise in case numbers.

She said: “I don’t know and I cannot stand here and say that is because of people traveling from the Central Belt into Fife but unless you have an essential reason to do that, please don’t do that.

“If you live in a level 3 area, you should not be travelling to other parts of Scotland because you risk taking the virus with you. “I can’t state that has happened in any particular context, but that is a very real risk which is why we advise so strongly against it.”