NICOLA Sturgeon has announced that the current lockdown, including the stay at home message, will remain in place until at least end of February.
The First Minister said this decision had been made to increase the chances of getting children back into school. She said that, subject to continued progress, children in Scotland would begin a phased return to school from February 22.
This includes early learning and childcare for those below school age, as well as P1-P3 pupils.
Senior school pupils will be allowed to return on a part-time basis to complete coursework that is necessary for the completion of national qualifications.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon announces phased re-opening of Scotland's schools for some pupils
The First Minister stressed that getting children back into schooling is the "over-riding priority".
She said all of the headroom created by adherence to lockdown restrictions by adults would be used to benefit children, by getting them back to a semblance of normality.
Sturgeon also said it is vital to guard against importing the virus from overseas.
She said the "firm view" of her Government was that it would be necessary for a managed quarantine requirement to be imposed on anyone landing in Scotland from abroad.
IN FULL: Nicola Sturgeon's statement to MSPs about extending Covid lockdown
Although this is not to be UK-wide, Sturgeon said that Westminster would be urged to help Scotland avoid importing any virus variants from overseas.
She also stressed that it would be key for Scots to avoid taking holidays abroad.
Travellers coming into the UK from countries with a travel ban in place are already required to quarantine, but Sturgeon has extended this to all other nations.
Addressing MSPs in Holyrood, the First Minister said coronavirus was almost eliminated in Scotland by early July last year, but overseas travel "allowed it to be re-seeded".
She said: "We must guard against that happening again."
Sturgeon said that waiting for new variants to be found was too reactive an approach, and so the Scottish Government was opting to be more proactive.
She said: "An approach to managed quarantine that only includes countries where new variants have already been identified is too reactive - because often by the time a new variant has been identified through genomic sequencing, it will already have spread across borders."
Elsewhere, the First Minister said that pressure on the NHS continues to be severe. However, she said that hospital admissions seem to have peaked on January 12.
Sturgeon said that intensive care admissions were more volatile, but those numbers also seem to have peaked, this time on January 18.
READ MORE: Coronavirus in Scotland: 69 deaths and 758 cases confirmed in latest update
MSPs were also told that five cases of new South African variant had been found in Scotland, but all of these were linked to travel. There is not as yet any evidence of community transmission of this variant, according to the First Minister.
Sturgeon also said that 610,778 people in Scotland have been given the first dose of the Covid vaccine, including 98% of care home residents.
She said that 83% of the over-80s had already been vaccinated, but stressed that this was an estimate. In reality, the First Minister said, the number may be closer to 90%.
Sturgeon said the rate of vaccinations would increase as mass centres began to be used to give the jag to younger, more mobile groups.
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