First minister expects to confirm easing of further lockdown restrictions

The first minister has told Holyrood she expects to confirm that Scotland will enter the second phase of easing lockdown measures from Friday.

Nicola Sturgeon will review the current restrictions tomorrow, and make an announcement at lunchtime.

It comes after National Records of Scotland figures showed the number of people who have died with coronavirus north of the border has dropped for a seventh consecutive week.

Seventy people passed away last week, down 19 from the previous week.

That makes a total of 4,070 cases where Covid-19 has been mentioned on a person's death certificate.

Meanwhile Ms Sturgeon has also told parliament she "wholeheartedly" agrees with a prominent Edinburgh University academic, about the return of pupils to schools in August.

Professor Devi Sridhar said on Twitter she believed youngsters should be able to return full-time, if the number of new cases continues to be suppressed. 

If COVID-19 numbers can be brought low enough in Scotland by 11 August (under 20 confirmed cases) & with appropriate 'test and protect' policies, my personal view is that schools should re-open as normally as possible (kids back full-time & able to play/interact together).

— Prof. Devi Sridhar (@devisridhar) June 16, 2020

Councils are currently making plans which would see youngsters only go back part-time from August 11, due to the need to maintain social distancing.

But there have been calls from unions to invest in more teachers and temporary buildings to maximise pupil-teacher engagement, while opposition parties want Ms Sturgeon to set out a clear pathway for children returning to classes.

The first minister was asked today whether she agreed with Prof Sridhar over the schools idea.

Ms Sturgeon said: "I agree with her in the totality of what she says, not just the bits of her analysis that suit my particular argument.

"I want to get schools back to normal as quickly as possible.

"I want to get our economy back to normal as quickly as possible.

"But I also know all of that has to be safe."