Nicola Sturgeon said she "doesn't get up in the morning and decide to close pubs".
Ms Sturgeon was asked by Labour leader, Richard Leonard, why business leaders and unions were not consulted before the announcement to close pubs and restaurants in the central belt from tomorrow evening for two weeks.
Ms Sturgeon was asked about the decision at First Ministers Questions.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Licensed cafes can stay open as long as they don't sell alcohol says Nicola Sturgeon
The First Minister said: "It is an impossible, almost, balance to strike. We are doing to the best of our abiity to balance jobs on the one hand and lives on the other.
"I don't get up in the morning and decide to close pubs for a policy reason. It's a difficult balance to strike. We are in a global pandemic trying to save lives and balance that with the economy as best we can.
There were 1027 new positive cases reported in the last 24 hours and 405 were in the Greater Glasgow area.
There were five deaths of people who had tesed positive with Covid-19 in the last 28 days. There were 377 in hospital, an increase of 58 and 31 in intensive care an increase of 3.
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