NICOLA Sturgeon has not ruled out imposing a “firebreak” lockdown in Scotland after the Welsh Government announced the emergency measure.
All people in Wales will be “required to stay at home” from Friday until November 9 – with the only exceptions made for “critical workers and jobs where working from home is not possible”.
Scotland's First Minister said she has spoken to her Welsh counterpart, Mark Drakeford, about the measure, which she described as “effectively a lockdown”.
Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government will “continue to keep all options under review in Scotland”, but warned about making direct comparisons between Wales and Scotland.
She said: “We are not starting from the same position as Wales - we have had, over the period when our schools have been closed, significant restrictions in place that have not been in place in Wales.
READ MORE: Coronavirus Scotland: School closure 'triggers' being considered
“We have to, over the course of this week, decide what the position will be across Scotland and whether it will be the same in all parts of Scotland and whether there will be variations in different parts of Scotland when the temporary restrictions on hospitality are due to expire on Monday 26 October.”
The First Minister indicated that further restrictions will be needed to suppress Covid-19 in Scotland when temporary restrictions on pubs and restaurants come to an end next week.
Ms Sturgeon said: “It is not realistic to expect that we will go back to normality at that point – for example, the household restrictions will continue to be in place, I think, for the foreseeable future.
“It may be that we need to have further restrictions over and above that.”
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She added: “These will be the discussions that the Scottish Government is having over the next couple of days with our clinical advisers. “As we set out our new strategic framework towards the end of the week, we will also set out what measures and restrictions we would intend to be in place from Monday across Scotland.
“They may be nationwide restrictions or they may be, as is the case right now, restrictions that vary in different parts of the country.”
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have called on Ms Strugeon to secure the trust of the Scottish people for any further restrictions and be open about what they may entail – with an indication that schools could be forced to revert to home learning.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, said: “Trust in Government needs to be high if we are to get on top of the virus. Yet faith in the Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic has been undermined over the last few months with the return of students, the weakness of the quarantine spot checks and the slow response times for Test and Protect.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Firebreak lockdown announced for Wales
“We are in a second wave when the First Minister was aiming for elimination over the summer. She said schools must stay open but has just opened up the possibility of them closing.”
He added: “Now the First Minister insists that the new measures will take the R number back below one even though her own advisers have said they won’t.
“We can’t afford any more false dawns. The Government needs to treat people like adults and be upfront with the evidence including the behavioural science. What's more, businesses and individuals need clarity. People have made huge sacrifices. The Government should be open and honest about the future.”
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