The lockdown will last at least another three weeks it has been revealed after UK leaders discussed efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Nicola Sturgeon said the measures are working but must continue to see the number of cases and deaths reduced.

She said: “We do firmly believe that the lockdown is having a positive effect.

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“For example, while we still see fluctuations we are not seeing at this stage significant or sustained increases in the number of people in hospital or in intensive care with the virus.

“However, we know these lockdown measures need time to work so we must continue to exercise caution in our predictions, we are by no means through this yet.”

The UK Government also confirmed the continuation with Dominic Raab, standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, stating if they were to be relaxed now it could cause a “second peak” in cases.

He said: “Any change to our social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus.”

The extension comes as another big increase in deaths in Scotland was announced.

Nicola Sturgeon said there has been an additional 80 deaths in 24 hours taking the total of those who died with a positive test to 779.

She said the number in hospital increased by 52 to 1799 and there were 196 in intensive care, an increase of one.

A total of 7,102 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland, up 354 from 6,748 the previous day.

Ms Sturgeon said that she hoped to have details of a plan to come out of lockdown next week

She said: “My clear advice is that we must continue the lockdown measures for at least another three weeks.

“While we are increasingly confident that these measures are working, we are not yet confident enough that the virus has been suppressed sufficiently to lift any of these measures because the risk of doing that would be a resurgence that would be extremely damaging.”

The measures will not be lifted in one go but a strategy published for what measures can be eased and what they can be replaced with to stop further spread.

She added: “I hope, over the course of next week, to not announce all of these decisions because we won’t be able to do that, but to set out a framework of decision making.”

It will involve testing people, tracing those with the virus and isolating them to stop them spreading it further.

Meanwhile the death rate across the UK continues to rise by several hundred.

The UK Government Department of Health said the Covid-19 death toll in hospitals in the UK had reached 13,729 as of 5pm on Wednesday, an increase 861 on the figure the day before.