Nicola Sturgeon explains why Perthshire not facing local lockdown amid outbreak

The first minister says the coronavirus situation in Aberdeen is "improving" - but has explained why she is not currently imposing lockdown measures on an area where cases are rising.

A total of 10 cases have been recorded in the Grampian area since yesterday.

A cluster linked to Aberdeen bars has not grown in the last 24 hours - and remains at 237.

Across Scotland there have been 71 cases since yesterday, 31 of which were in Tayside, where there is an outbreak linked to a chicken processing factory.

Nicola Sturgeon says the approach for the cluster there is different for a number of reasons.

She said: "At the moment, although this is being kept under close review, there are only a small number of cases in Tayside which are not in some way linked to the 2 Sisters site.

"And we have taken prompt action which we hope will reduce the chances of further spread within the wider community.

"Now these restrictions that I've just talked about are obviously more stringent than those that have been imposed in other clusters. In those instances we've asked contacts to isolate, but we haven't extended that advice to their families.

"On the other hand in Dumfries, when we had the Gretna outbreak, and more recently in Aberdeen, geographical restrictions were introduced. In Coupar Angus we are able to target specific households with increased restrictions.

"Some people may be looking at Aberdeen and Coupar Angus, and wondering why exactly the same approach is not being taken. The key point I'm making here is that the nature of the steps we take in different outbreaks have to be depend on, and be guided by, the nature of the outbreak.

"The assessment of the incident management team in Coupar Angus right now is that there is minimal evidence of community transmission in Tayside. That's not something we were able to say with any confidence about the outbreak in Aberdeen.

"As things stand there is a clear focal point for the Coupar Angus outbreak, which was not the case for Aberdeen where the outbreak was associated with a large number of venues across the city.

"That's why the action we're taking for this outbreak is different to that we took in Aberdeen."

Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon says she hopes to set out a firm timeline for the lifting of lockdown restrictions in Aberdeen following a review of the measures on Sunday.

She previously said this may start with the reopening of non-licensed premises in the city from Wednesday.

But she has now hinted that some of the changes that were announced for the country yesterday may not automatically apply in Aberdeen - and will outline these details at the weekend.