SCOTLAND’S lockdown may need to be strengthened further to be effective in suppressing the more transmissible strain of Covid-19, Nicola Sturgeon has warned.
The First Minister placed mainland Scotland into a ‘stay at home’ lockdown on Monday – while schools and nurseries, including on the islands, will remain closed until at least February 1.
But Ms Sturgeon has indicated that even tougher action could be required as case numbers and hospital admissions continue to rise.
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Her comments came as the number of people in hospital in Scotland with the virus rose to 1,467 – “pretty close” to the number reached at the peak of the first wave.
Some activities which were halted in March have been allowed to continue, such as professional sport and some construction and manufacturing work.
The First Minister said: “For this lockdown to really be as effective as we need it to be, we must radically reduce the number of interactions we are having, and that means reducing to a minimum when people are required to leave their homes.
“If we need to require more non-essential activities to close in order to achieve this, we will have to do that. That is a matter of ongoing review by the Scottish Government right now.”
Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing, the First Minister added: “At this stage people need to prioritise limiting the spread of this virus, and if we think as a Government that we need to go further in terms of the regulations and the legal restrictions, we will do that, because we have to cut interactions sufficiently to stop this virus spreading.
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“If it takes more tough decisions… then that is what I will do.
“Because we see from case numbers, death numbers, pressure on our health service that we cannot allow this virus to run away from us, the consequences of that are just too great.”
Ms Sturgeon suggested the Scottish Government could consider banning click and collect services in order to further crack down on the spread of the new variant of the virus - a move that ha been introduced in the Republic of Ireland.
She said: "That shouldn't be taken as an indication we are definitely going to do it, but it's the kind of thing we are going to look at if we have a concern that we are not sufficiently reducing the number of people that are out and about and interacting.
"We always strike a balance between keeping people at home and allowing certain things to continue."
But David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, has warned against the introduction of tighter restrictions on the industry.
He said: “Its surprising and disappointing to hear that food-to-go takeaway and click and collect services are being cited as examples of further commercial activity that could be forcibly shut.
"These businesses have complied with every step of government guidance and put in place mitigations to keep workers and customers safe. We haven’t been provided with any evidence as to why this is being considered.
"It’s barely three days since the publication of official guidance stating explicitly these services can continue to trade, which makes it doubly frustrating that there is yet more talk of chopping and changing the Covid framework.”
With hospital numbers rising again during winter – traditionally the busiest time of the year for the health service – Ms Sturgeon said: “The NHS is coping but… it is under severe and increasing pressure.”
Wintry weather in recent days means accident and emergency staff are having to deal with cases of people falling and slipping on ice, as well as the impact of Covid-19.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Every single person who gets infected with this virus is someone who might need hospital care in future – the more all of us stay at home and reduce the opportunities for the virus to spread, the more all of us help the NHS cope.
“Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives. That is now just as important as it was last March and I ask everybody to take it just as seriously as all of us did back then.”
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