Help for mental health issues is available for people struggling with issues like stress, anxiety or depression the First Minister has said.

At the coronavirus daily briefing Nicola Sturgeon urged people to seek help form the NHS or mental health charities if they need to.

She said: “That’s an important message at all times, but it is especially important at this exceptionally tough time for everyone.

“There can be few people across the country right now that are not struggling in one way or another and many people will be struggling quite a lot right now so there is help out there if you need it”

Scotland continues into the new year in a tougher lockdown, with no household visiting been allowed for months and now the message extended to be ‘stay at home’ at a time of year when normally mental health issues can be heightened.

Dr Alistair Cook of..

He said: “Sometimes the changes you can make don’t help with low anger, fear, stress or many other reactions.

“It can be completely normal to feel like this when times are so uncertain.”

However, he added help was available.

He said: “Please don’t wait for something, or think this is minor, to get worse.”

He said despite being in lockdown and most services being delivered digitally there were still services open for face-to-face support.

Dr Cook added: What ever help you need one thing remains important; being able to say how you feel. Tell your friends or family if you are struggling and be there if they need you.

“If that doesn’t feel enough, please don’t hesitate to ask for help or support.”

At the briefing Nicola Sturgeon gave the latest update on covid-19 cases and the vaccination programme.

Another 536 positive coronavirus cases were recorded in the Greater Glasgow area in the last 24 hours.

The First Minister said that it was the intention to vaccinate everyone in the adult population.

She said: “It is not an aspiration, it is our intention to vaccinate the whole adult population. It is one of the things that makes this a massive logistical challenge.

Ms Sturgeon revealed that 208,207 people had now been vaccinated with a first dose of one of the vaccines, which is 16,242 more than the figure announced yesterday.

There were another 1717 positive tested cases recorded in Scotland in the last 24 hours. Of the total, 536 were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area and 242 in Lanarkshire.

The number in hospital increased by 35 to 1829 and the number of people in intensive care increased by 8 to 142.

There were another 64 deaths of someone who tested positive for Covid-19 in the previous 28 days.