Scotland's Chief Medical Officer has said Scottish Government ministers will make a decision on whether to go ahead with the lifting of face mask requirements shortly.
Covid cases in Scotland have soared in recent days, with an estimated one in 18 people reported to have had the virus.
In the latest figures reported on Friday (March 14), it was confirmed that 13,220 new positive tests were recorded, with 22 reported deaths in the past 24 hours of people who tested positive.
In the wake of the sharp rise in cases, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will deliver a covid update to the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.
Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme earlier today, Professor Sir Gregor Smith said ministers will be advised to take a "cautious approach" to lifting the remaining coronavirus restrictions.
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Scotland's legal Covid-19 restrictions, including the requirement to wear face masks, are currently due to end on March 21.
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."
Sir Gregor continued: "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."
Sir Gregor said 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".
