‘It is “too early” to start lifting coronavirus lockdown restrictions “in any meaningful way”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The next review of strict social distancing rules is due on 7 May.
But the Scottish first minister said the margins for making any changes were still “very, very tight”.
Ministers are considering ways of gradually lifting the lockdown, but Ms Sturgeon warned that it “is not going to be a flick of the switch moment”.
She said the key objective was to “get the virus to as low a level as possible” and then keep it there with continued social distancing and a testing and isolation regime.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to set out the UK government’s thinking on options for easing restrictions in future, after Ms Sturgeon’s government published a paper on the same topic .
However, at her daily briefing the first minister said she had to deliver a “tough message” that changes will not happen quickly.
She said: “I have to be straight with you that it may very well be too early in any meaningful way to safely lift any of the current restrictions.
“We have worked very hard to bring down the transmission rate of the virus and we are definitely seeing results from those efforts.
“But our progress against the virus is too fragile for us to let up.”
Read more: Coronavirus: ‘Too early’ to start easing lockdown – Sturgeon
