The National Clinical Director has cited "house parties" and indoor gatherings as the reason behind a spike of coronavirus cases within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region.

A localised lockdown was announced last night after a "concerning" increase of coronavirus cases were identified within the area.

Restrictions set out to Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire mean that residents can no longer host people from other households or visit other households - except in emergencies. These restrictions will be in place for a two-week period, however are subject to review after one week. 

READ MORE: Glasgow coronavirus lockdown: Guidance on hospital visits, schools, shielding and shared parenting

Speaking to Radio Clyde, the National Clinical Director, Jason Leitch, responded to concerns about pubs and restaurants remaining open during the localised lockdown after members of the public hit out on social media yesterday evening.

Describing the localised lockdown as "lockdown light", he told the radio station: "The data over the last few days in Greater Glasgow and Clyde has gone from 15, 21, 14, 36, 39, 69, 66 so you can see that is something happening there.

"Test and Protect tracing system has looked at each individual case and the main culprit seems to be indoor house gatherings, call them house parties if you like, sometimes it is just a few too many people not so distanced. 

"That is why we are concentrating our main on that group - to try to get people to realise once again it is so dangerous. This virus jumps from person to person and household to household so fast."

Comparing Aberdeen's localised lockdown to Glasgow's, Mr Leitch described the two as "different".

READ MORE: Glasgow health board reveals two schools at centre of contact tracing

He added: "If you remember in Aberdeen, we ended up with over 400 positive tests most of which we could trace back to a single weekend in hospitality - so pubs and clubs with a wee bit more less control than what we would have liked.

"So that's why in Aberdeen the answer was a hospitality ban."

Meanwhile, the First Minister has also addressed confusion over pubs and restaurants remaining open as she echoed the Clinical Director's comments about the transmission of coronavirus in Glasgow stemming from indoor gatherings.

She said: "Our data suggests that spread in and between households is driving much of the transmission just now. That doesn’t mean there are no cases in pubs etc - but unlike in Aberdeen, pub clusters don’t appear, at this stage, to be main driver. That analysis has guided decisions.

"Based on data, clinical advice is that restricting household gatherings indoors - where it is most difficult to keep physical distance - is vital.

"Closing pubs wouldn’t be an alternative to that - but an additional measure which, for now, they don’t consider proportionate.

"Coupled with the extended advice on isolation for anyone with potential exposure to the virus, we hope these targeted measures will be sufficient to prevent further spread - if people comply with them. However, we will need to keep the situation under review.

"When we face these situations, there are no good options for those of taking decisions. Our objective is to stem spread with the least impact on lives and the economy. But we must all try to stop the virus spreading in first place - government can’t do that alone."

"I know I sound like a broken record on this - but unless we all stick rigidly to #FACTS and abide by the rules, this highly infectious virus will spread. That is a fact. Difficult though I know it is, stopping it is down to all of us."

Yesterday, there had been 154 new positive cases across Scotland - 66 were in the Greater Glasgow area. A week ago it was just 12.

In the last seven days there were 260 new positive cases in the area with 174 of those were reported in the last three days alone.