NICOLA Sturgeon has pleaded with Scots to stay at home this weekend, despite the better weather.

The First Minister said the lockdown was working but that any progress could be quickly reversed.

Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, Sturgeon revealed that another 64 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 had died. That brings the total number of patients with a confirmed case of coronavirus to die in Scotland to 1184.

A total of 9697 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in Scotland, an increase of 288 from 9409 the day before.

She said the number of people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 is 1710, a fall of 38 from 1748 on Thursday, while 141 of these patients are in intensive care, down seven.

Since March 5, a total of 2271 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 have been released from hospital, she added.

The First Minister: “I’m conscious, as no doubt all of you will be, that this will be the fifth weekend since the country went into lockdown and I know that this only gets harder as time goes on,” she said.

“There’s no doubt that we’ve got a long way to go ... but it is equally true to say that we are seeing hopeful signs and so it is really vital that we stick with it and build on the work that we have done so far because by doing that we are right now slowing the spread of this virus, we are protecting our NHS and we are – despite horrible statistics I report to you on a daily basis – we are nevertheless saving lives.”

Earlier in the day, Sturgeon had also raised the prospect of expanding the definition of “households” and allowing people to mix with “bubbles” of friends.

Appearing on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, she was asked about the difficulties many people have experienced with feelings of isolation and loneliness. Sturgeon said: “I know from my own parents who are not seeing their grandkids just know, I understand the anguish of that.

“We’re all missing seeing our loved ones so we all want to get beyond that as quickly as possible.

“Every country is going through these decisions, none of us are through this pandemic yet, but some countries are starting to look at slightly expanding what people would define as their household – encouraging people who live alone to maybe match up with somebody else who is on their own or a couple of other people to have almost kind of bubbles of people.”

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She added: “And the key thing there is, if you’re seeing maybe one or two more people outside your household, it’s got to be the same people on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis so you’re still limiting the ability for the virus to transmit.

“Now, none of these are fixed decisions yet, but these are all the kind of things we’re trying to work through.”

The First Minister also revealed that a second plane from China carrying PPE landed at Prestwick Airport yesterday morning, she said, including 100,000 testing kits as well 10 million face masks.

She also told how Scottish businesses were changing their working patterns to produce PPE and other necessary supplies.

More than 1600 businesses and individuals have answered a call for assistance from the Scottish Government, Sturgeon said.

The First Minister highlighted the work of a company in Grangemouth which has produced 20,000 litres of hand sanitiser to be delivered to frontline services from next week.

Alcohol from whisky producer Whyte and Mackay was used to make it, with the sanitiser being bottled by a Stonehaven-based firm.

“The Scottish Government has formed this supply chain in an incredibly short period of time,” Sturgeon said. “And it will produce 560,000 litres of hand sanitiser over the next four weeks. That will be enough to meet the needs of Scotland’s entire health and social care sector.”

Meanwhile, Dr Nicola Steedman, a former pandemic adviser to the Scottish Government has been appointed as the new interim deputy chief medical officer.