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Nicola Sturgeon warned MSPs that it may have to introduce full lockdown measures in Scotland in the coming days to contain the fastest-spreading Covid variant, which has already prompted Wales to advance a nationwide lockdown since last Sunday and Northern Ireland announcing a six-week lockdown lockout from Boxing Day.
Sturgeon used his weekly statement on the coronavirus to the Scottish parliament to toughen the level 4 measures, the most stringent of Scotland’s five-level system of Covid controls and which will enter all of mainland Scotland from December 26.
He said the strict restrictions were “essential” to suppressing the new strain of coronavirus, as it revealed that it is likely to be present in 14% of Scottish cases, according to the latest analysis.
Sturgeon said: “To be frank with Parliament and the public, the current Level 4 restrictions are not as strict as the March closure. However, it appears that we are facing a virus that is spreading much faster now than in March, so we must consider whether the current level 4 restrictions will be sufficient to eliminate it. “
Since Boxing Day, the “strong advice” for those living below level 4 is to stay home and in the zone as much as possible. The Scottish government will consider enacting that council into law.
Sturgeon added: “Given the gravity of the situation we are facing and the need to limit interactions as much as possible, we intend to define essential retail more narrowly than we have recently done.” As a result, home goods stores and garden centers will close below level 4.
In response to the statement, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives in Holyrood, Ruth Davidson, expressed concern of working parents about the delay in the return from schools and daycare centers. Sturgeon announced a staggered return to education on Saturday, with online learning beginning for most students on January 11 and an expected return to the classroom beginning on January 18.
Sturgeon stressed in Tuesday’s statement that “we will have to keep this under review,” telling Davidson that scientists were still trying to understand the nature of the new strain, even if it was more easily transmitted to young people.
Sturgeon has told MSPs that the ONS Covid weekly infection survey was using PCR testing on a random sample of people in Scotland, looking for a proxy marker known as ‘S gene abandonment’ to track the spread of the variant. .
“The analysis suggests that in the week starting December 9, around 14% of positive cases in Scotland already had this S-Gene dropout. This compares with just 5% at the end of November. It is not unreasonable to assume that the ratio may be higher now. “
He said the rapid spread in London and the south-east of England served as a warning of what Scotland would face if it did not take strong action to suppress the virus.
“We have a real concern that, without significant countermeasures, we could be facing another period of exponential growth as we enter the new year. That would mean that many more people will contract Covid, and even without this new strain causing a more serious illness, many more people would need hospitalization and intensive care. And that would put enormous pressure on the NHS and lead to many more loss of life. “
