Scotland coronavirus restrictions briefing: Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and Jason Leitch to make covid level announcement today, what time are they speaking, will rules in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and Moray change?

The First Minister is going to give an update on coronavirus restrictions and specifically what will happen in Glasgow and Moray as well as the situation in Midlothian and East Renfrewshire.

Nicola Sturgeon will be joined by Humza Yousaf, the new Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care, and National Clinical Director Jason Leitch on Friday at 12.15pm as she gives the latest update on the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced on Tuesday that alongside a review of whether or not Glasgow and Moray will be able to leave local restrictions, there will also be a review of whether any other areas will have restrictions tightened.

Where can I watch?

The briefing will be available to stream via the Scottish governments twitter feed. You can follow along with all of the updates via our Live Blog here.

What is Nicola Sturgeon expected to say?

The focus is thought to be on Moray and Glasgow and whether their case levels are low enough to move down to level two.

Mainland Scotland moved to level two on Monday, and several islands moved to level one.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will give an update at 12.15pm on Friday, May 21. (Photo by Andy Buchanan - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Jillian Evans from NHS Grampian spoke to the BBC on Wednesday about the situation in Moray.

She explained that there were some “positive signs” coming from the increased vaccination programme, adding: “I think we’ll need a couple more days to be sure that this is a definite trend but on all of the indicators that we look at, that’s cases, test positivity, looking at vaccinations and listening to what's happening in local communities and compliance, I think the signs are looking really positive accordingly.”

How will it affect Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Moray and Midlothian?

The most affected areas are in the south of Glasgow, around Pollokshields, Darnley and Maxwell Park, and Govanhill.

NHS Grampian has said it is pleased with progress in Moray, with high uptake of extra testing and vaccination for all those over 18.

Earlier this week, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde began a programme of door-to-door PCR testing in the most affected area of Pollokshields.

The rate in neighbouring East Renfrewshire, which has become the area with the second-highest figure, has risen to 102.

The outbreak here is centred around Merrylee and Braidbar as well as Mearnskirk and South Kirkhill.

Midlothian has the third-highest rate of cases, but the figure has dropped slightly to 56.

In Moray the figure has dropped from 69 on Friday to 41.

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