SCOTLAND'S Health Secretary has rowed back on her suggestion that some areas could remain under lockdown beyond December 11.
Jeane Freeman had said "all options are on the table" and a decision will be announced on Tuesday.
This came despite First Minister Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly insisting level four restrictions in areas such as Glasgow will be lifted on December 11.
Ms Freeman has now indicated she misspoke.
READ MORE: Coronavirus Scotland: 643 new Covid cases in 24 hours with 5 new deaths
She tweeted: "11 local authorities currently in Level 4 will come out of that level on Friday. That position has not changed.
"The Cabinet will decide on Tuesday what level below 4 they’ll go into.
"My comments were intended to mean in respect of that decision, all options are on the table."
Appearing on the BBC's Politics Scotland, Ms Freeman was asked if some level four areas could remain in that tier.
She said: "All options are on the table at this point, as you would expect them to be.
"That doesn't mean – people shouldn't read from that any decision one way or the other.
"The work goes on over the weekend so that we have the most up-to-date data, the most up-to-date clinical advice, then we take a decision as a Cabinet on Tuesday and the First Minister makes that announcement on Tuesday."
Ms Sturgeon previously said: "Level four restrictions in the areas will be lifted on December 11.
READ MORE: Scotland's coronavirus lockdown review: Nicola Sturgeon's changes next week
"Before then we will have to make an assessment based on up-to-date data at the time about what levels these areas then go into.
"Will they go back to level three or could some of them go to level two?
"We can't make that assessment right now because we need to wait and see what the data is, but the level four restrictions will be lifted on December 11."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel