Nicola Sturgeon said there are "notes of cautious optimism" around the Covid situation in Glasgow, despite case numbers continuing to rise over the last week.

The city remains in a higher level of lockdown than the rest of Scotland, with a decision due on Friday about whether it remains in level three or can move down to level two

Sturgeon said: "In Glasgow there is some signs of cautious optimism."

She said it may have stabilised in East Renfrewshire and even fallen slightly.

In Glasgow, the First Minister said, the seven day average has increased from 112 to 137 per 100,000 of population.

She added that the "public health measures will take time to work through."

Sturgeon said: "In the past two days we think case numbers are starting to stabilise.

"It is all having an effect. These are all big community efforts, thousands of testing kits and the vaccination clinic set up in Glasgow central mosque.

"We will continue to monitor the latest data. We will be looking at not just cases numbers but hospital and ICU numbers when making decisions."

The latest figures showed there were 318 new cases reported and 149 were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

There were 97 people in hospital across Scotland, up by 3, and there were 6 people in ICU, one more than yesterday.

There were two deaths reported in last 24 hours.

The First Minister said: "We are seeing a rise in cases, some will be down to increased testing. When we mix more the virus has opportunity to spread.

"But the rise also seems to be presence of the is April 02 variant."