WITH the new year now underway all eyes are on the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon to see how they plan on guiding the country out of recent restrictive measures.

The First Minister announced before Christmas that limits on crowd capacity in venues would return, as well as limits on the hospitality industry and a whole curtail of other restrictions.

Ms Sturgeon said the restrictions were aimed at cutting down transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant and because “large events put an additional burden on emergency services”.

In the Scottish Government's most recent Covid briefing it was announced that the restrictions would be in place until January 17.

There were also changes to self-isolation rules and testing. People can now exit isolation after seven days should they produce two negative lateral flow tests (LFTs), and those who show no symptoms of Covid but test postive on a LFT will not need a PCR test to confirm.

Record high cases have been reported in 2022, and hospital admissions have more than doubled since the beginning of December, so will the restrictions be extended beyond January 17?

Here is what we know so far:

When is Nicola Sturgeon’s next Covid update?

Nicola Sturgeon will give an update MSPs on Tuesday, January 11 as Holyrood will reconvene for an official review on restrictions that could see some changes implemented.

The First Minister previously told MSPs that some restrictions would be extended for at least a week, with a formal decision set to be made in Parliament on Tuesday.

How can I watch Nicola Sturgeon's Covid briefing? 

The Covid update will be streamed on the Scottish government's social media channels.

It can also be watched on their official TV website.

And we’ll bring you all the updates on our website.

Will more restrictions be introduced in Scotland? 

Speaking last week, Ms Sturgeon said no further covid restrictions will be implemented at this time.

Addressing the virtual sitting of parliament she said: “We are not proposing any additional measures at this stage, I will confirm that existing protections and guidance will remain in place for the coming week, pending further review.”