Scottish Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf has said he will not rule out the possibility of another lockdown this winter.

The MSP insisted that Scotland is on track to remove most coronavirus restrictions on August 9 despite "exponential growth" in Delta variant cases. 

However, he did warn that the emergence of a new variant could lead to restrictions being reimposed the Daily Record reports.

The former justice secretary said we are, "very much in the midst of a third wave" as case numbers continue to rise.

He added that the Government believe the vaccine rollout is "weakening the link between rising cases and hospitalisations."

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Why Delta variant has made herd immunity through vaccinations alone mathematically impossible

The MSP said: "I would hope in that context there will not be the need to impose further restrictions like a lockdown in the winter.

"The giant caveat, however, is I can tell you with certainty there won't be a variant that comes into the country that will be immune to the vaccine.

"If you are asking me for a cast-iron guarantee that isn't going to happen in the winter, I couldn't give you that."

Mr Yousaf, who replaced Jeane Freeman as Health Secretary following the Scottish Parliament election in May added that there are no plans to end rules on face masks.

It comes as we reported that Scottish case numbers rose to 2,836 yesterday, days after the country recorded two record highs in a row.

On Wednesday 2,969 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Scotland, increasing slightly on Thursday to 2,999 new cases.