Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Cabinet, which met on Tuesday morning, had not reached “final decisions” on what further measures will be introduced.
Another meeting is planned for early Wednesday morning, the First Minister said, before she makes a statement to Holyrood.
But she stressed tomorrow would not see a new national lockdown announced.
She said: “We are not proposing another lockdown at this stage, not even on a temporary basis.”
Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon told people: “After seven months of decisions that have been extremely difficult for me and the Government to take, and even more difficult for all of you to live with…, in many ways this is is probably the most difficult decision point we have faced so far.”
The figures show Scotland facing a “sharply rising rate of infection again”, she said.
And while she said rises were “particularly pronounced” in the central belt, in areas such as Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Lothian and now also Ayrshire and Arran and Forth Valley, Ms Sturgeon was clear: “Cases are rising everywhere across the country.
“Levels of infection now in most parts of Scotland are higher than we can be comfortable with.”
