Nicola Sturgeon Says Dundee Could Face Tighter Lockdown Restrictions As Covid Cases Rise In Tayside

Nicola Sturgeon has said that Dundee faces stricter lockdown restrictions as Covid cases at Tayside have increased in recent weeks.

The Prime Minister confirmed that the city was “an area that we are looking at,” but added that no final decision had been made.

It could mean that Dundee faces the same restrictions currently in place in Glasgow and Edinburgh with the order to close pubs and restaurants.

The Scottish government will decide later this week at what levels of lockdown individual parts of the country will be placed.

Speaking at her daily press conference, the Prime Minister said: “Dundee is an area that we are looking closely at.

“As we map parts of the country to tiers, it is also very likely that significant parts of the central belt will generally remain at the level they are currently at for an additional period.

“But Dundee would be one of the areas where there are questions right now about whether he needs to level up.

“No decision has been made there, but it is a part of the country that we are watching closely.

“Lanarkshire is another part of the country that I said on Friday that we have some concerns.”

Scottish government clinical director Jason Leitch admitted that the transmission of the virus in the city was “concerning”.

“The NHS Tayside health board has 60 cases today, it’s been around that level for a few days, but they’re concentrated in the city of Dundee and that’s what you would expect in an urban center,” he said.

“We know that, in general, there is a higher risk when there are no specific outbreaks in rural areas.

“So we do it at the local level, the public health team and at the national level, they remain concerned about the City of Dundee.”

Sturgeon said details of what level of lockdown will apply to different parts of Scotland will be announced ahead of a debate on the coronavirus in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister announced last week that a new five-tiered approach would be introduced across the country starting on November 2 and the tier will depend on the spread of Covid-19 in the areas of local authorities.