A DATE for the re-opening of Scotland’s shops could be set this week – but Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the country must remain “cautious” as it exits the coronavirus pandemic.

Many retailers in England are set to re-open their doors today.

Boris Johnson appeared at the sprawling Westfield shopping centre in London to highlight that yesterday, urging the public to “shop with confidence”.

The move comes a fortnight after images emerged of massive queues around Ikea car parks as the furniture giant began trading again in England and Northern Ireland.

At her regular coronavirus briefing yesterday, Sturgeon said Scotland must not rush to leave lockdown, despite falling Covid-19 case numbers.

The warning came as another death from the virus was recorded in Scotland.

The First Minister is expected to announce a shift to phase two of the route map out of lockdown on Thursday.

That could include re-opening news for smaller shops, as well as the lifting of the bar on meeting people from other households indoors.

It could also allow some factories and other non-office workplaces to re-open. But Sturgeon said all of those measures may not be taken at the same time.

She stated: “All of that, and any other changes that we are able to announce on Thursday, will be in line with the careful approach that we set out in our route map, and that’s really important because the evidence suggests that the careful approach we have adopted so far is working.

“The lesson I take from that is that we should stick with that plan, not discard it.

“Because – and this, of course, is the much harder bit – while transmission of the virus is much reduced, the virus has not gone away yet.

“We still have a significant number of infected people in Scotland and we are still seeing new cases every day.

“The risk remains that if we move too quickly, and if we come into contact with too many people, cases of the virus could start to multiply again very quickly and we need to avoid that happening.”

A total of 2448 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus.

New statistics show that 15,755 people had tested positive for the virus as of yesterday, up by 25 from the previous day.

Meanwhile, there were 964 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 19 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 15 were in intensive care, down by five from the previous day.

The retail sector has been amongst the hardest hit by the pandemic, with major chains like Debenhams announcing store closures and others, including Accessorize, entering administration due to the prolonged fall in custom.

The Scottish Retail Consortium has pressed Holyrood for answers and both the hospitality and tourism industries have also been seriously affected.

Sturgeon says she “would certainly hope” that people will be able to go on holiday in Scotland by the middle of next month, pending fresh assessments.

She told reporters: “I know how important it is to our tourist and hospitality sector that we get them reopening and operating as quickly as possible.”

In a wide-ranging press conference, the First Minister said: “Everything we are talking about here – education, the economy, tourism – we want to get as much normality restored as quickly as possible, but that all depends on continuing to suppress this virus.”