Nicola Sturgeon will be advised to take a “cautious approach” to lifting the remaining coronavirus restrictions in Scotland, the chief medical officer has said.
Gregor Smith said he is “keeping a close eye on” rising infection levels and hospital cases.
But the professor said there is some early evidence the hospital admission rate is beginning to “top out”.
Scotland’s few remaining legal covid restrictions - including the requirement to wear face masks - are currently due to end on March 21.
Sturgeon will give a coronavirus update in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.
Smith said today that ministers will make a decision on whether to go ahead with lifting the face mask requirement shortly.
He said data shows some older people are beginning to adapt their behaviour by reducing their contacts slightly, while the use of face masks is also up.
Asked what advice he would give to ministers, he said: “I think that a cautious approach at this point in time is probably the right approach, and we’re already seeing the public adopting those additional protections.”
In the first week of March, an estimated one in every 18 Scots had Covid-19, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Smith said: “We’ve been keeping a close eye on these for the last three weeks, and clearly when you see cases begin to increase like this it does give you a little bit of concern.”
Hospital occupancy began to rise around February 14, he said.
He added: “We’re seeing more older population becoming impacted on this occasion, and that’s leading to some longer lengths of stay, which is driving occupancy up as well.”
Smith added there are “some hopeful signs” the hospital admission rate “has begun to kind of top out just a little bit over the course of the latter end of last week”.
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