By Scotland to enter full lockdown from midnight tonight
A nationwide lockdown will be introduced in Scotland from midnight tonight, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
New laws will require people to stay at home and work from home where possible, with schools remaining closed to most pupils until the start of February at the earliest.
Outdoor gatherings are also to be cut back, with people only allowed to meet one person from one other household.
Places of worship are to close, the number of people who can attend weddings is to be cut to five, and funeral wakes will no longer be allowed.
She said the increased transmissibility of a new COVID-19 variant first identified in the UK, means that Scotland’s current Level 4 restrictions may not be enough to bring the R number back below 1.
She reiterated:
“It is essential that we further limit interaction between different households to stem the spread and bring the situation back under control while we vaccinate more people”.
“In short, we must return for a period to a situation much closer to the lockdown of last March”.
Ms Sturgeon warned that failing to act further could see the NHS in Scotland overrun with coronavirus patients within “three or four weeks”.
She added:
“We have an opportunity in Scotland to avert the situation here deteriorating to that extent”.
“But we must act quickly”.
