NICOLA Sturgeon this week spoke of “continued caution” as Scotland looks towards further moves out of lockdown.

The number of new cases across the country have almost doubled in the last month – however the number of hospital admissions has not yet risen as quickly as in previous occasions.

The “fragile” position meant no further changes to lockdown restrictions across the country, with mainland Scotland still in Level 2.

When is Nicola Sturgeon’s next lockdown update?

The First Minister is set to provide an update to the Scottish Parliament on Monday, June 21.

During this stage, she’ll set out expectations as to whether any further easing of restrictions can go ahead.

Following that, an announcement is due on June 28 – which was the initially scheduled date for a country-wide move to Level 0.

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What can we expect by then?

Ms Sturgeon said she “still has the optimism” she felt when Scotland’s routemap was set out, because of the rising numbers of vaccinations across the country.

This comes despite a “fragile” situation with case numbers in Scotland, largely dominated by the Delta variant of the virus – the variant first discovered in India.

It is, however, unlikely that the country-wide planned move to Level 0 on June 28 will go ahead – but it may see a move for some more mainland areas to move down a Level in restrictions.

What has the First Minister said?

Commenting on rising numbers of cases, Ms Sturgeon said on Tuesday: “This will partly be a consequence of restrictions easing – it is always the case that as we start interacting more, the virus does have more opportunities to spread - but the recent rise is also being driven by the more transmissible Delta variant, which now accounts for the majority of all new cases being reported.

“However, although cases are rising, the key question is the extent to which vaccination is weakening the link between the increase in new cases, and an increase in serious health harms.

“We continue to assess the data very closely - and, at this stage, we remain optimistic that vaccination will allow us to move progressively to a less restrictive way of dealing with the virus.”