BBC Scotland has climbed down over its decision to ditch regular live broadcasts of the First Minister's daily coronavirus briefings. 

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, the corporation said "with the pandemic still a major cause for public concern, we will, over the coming weeks and as we have done this week, look to cover the ScotGov health briefings live on TV".

An SNP spokesman told The National: "We welcome this sensible decision." 

WATCH: Public health expert explains why BBC's decision to axe briefings is dangerous

It's been just over a week since the corporation announced plans to stop screening the briefings as a matter of course. 

They said that instead they would stream the regular sessions online, and only show them on TV when they have”news value”.

Previously, they had been broadcast on BBC One Scotland and the BBC Scotland channel, as well as being streamed on the BBC News website and played out on BBC Radio Scotland.

The decision to can the programmes - which had average viewing figures of 280,000 on BBC One Scotland and 40,000 on BBC Scotland - sparked anger.

More than 54,000 people have signed a petition calling for it to be reversed. 

And on Thursday afternoon, campaigners from the pro-independence All Under One Banner were outside the corporation's Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow on Thursday holding a static demonstration.  

READ MORE: Scottish independence: Yes voters send 'bold statement' to BBC at protest

Just 24 hours before the U-turn, BBC bosses had taken to the airwaves to defend the decision. 

READ MORE: BBC Scotland boss slammed for claims Covid briefings are not ‘crucial’

Ian Small, the head of public policy and corporate affairs at BBC Scotland, told Good Morning Scotland that it was about "taking a more measured look, see exactly how best to cover going forward”.

He said: "What we have said is that we’ve taken a decision that we will look across all of our output, we’ll look at these briefings, and we will then start to consider, as we move forward, which we will take relative to news value because not everyone will carry crucial bits of information.”

Earlier this week, we revealed that people who work for the corporation told us there had been a change, and that the BBC would be “showing the updates again”.

Though that was denied by a spokesman, who told us there had been “no change of policy”.

Bosses at Pacific Quay said the decision was taken to ensure a “consistent approach to coverage of the various government briefings across the UK nations”, but for months now they've been coming under pressure from Labour and the Tories to stop airing the regular information sessions.

Last week Labour peer George Foulkes claimed he was responsible for the policy, saying that the BBC had taken the decision after his “representations”.

The decision was criticised by Donald MacAskill, chief executive of Scottish Care. He said he was “very disappointed that, in the midst of the largest public health emergency ever, BBC Scotland has decided to cut back coverage of the Scottish government daily briefing”.

He warned that the impact would “disproportionately affect older persons and those with disabilities”

Speaking at last Friday's briefing, Sturgeon said it was up to the BBC to decide what they chose to broadcast.

But she said with the number of positive cases rising and winter fast approaching, it had “never been more important than it is right now” for her to communicate with the people of Scotland.

She added: “The televising of these briefings at a time like this have been a public service and the BBC is a public service broadcaster.

“The televising of these briefings have been important in allowing me to communicate information and advice directly, and giving us the opportunity to explain the reasoning and rationale behind the decisions we’re taking, and the things we’re asking people to do.”