TAKEN AWAY
Outdoor booze ban and all takeaways closed as lockdown tightens in bid to curb Covid
SCOTLAND’S lockdown will get even tighter this weekend with bans on drinking outdoors and more limits on retail and takeaways.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the move was necessary to curb the rising infection level of the new Covid-19 variant, which now accounts for 60 per cent of new cases.
She announced click and collect will be restricted to essential services only – such as clothes, homeware, baby equipment and books.
And takeaway services will have to be offered through a hatch to stop people coming indoors.
Drinking alcohol outdoors will be banned in all Level 4 areas of Scotland – which puts an end to any takeaway pints.
Employers will also be under a strengthened obligation to allow staff to work from home.
Maintenance and other trade work in people’s homes will be restricted by law to essential upkeep only.
The law on leaving a house for essential purposes will be shored up to make sure people do not then stay outside in breach of the wider guidance.
The First Minister unveiled the new restrictions in a statement at the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Sturgeon said: “Case numbers are still so high – and the new variant is so infectious – that we must be as tough and as effective as we can to stop it spreading.
“That means taking further steps to stop people from meeting and interacting, indoors and also outdoors.
“Today’s measures will help us to achieve that. They are a regrettable, but necessary, means to an end.”
As the new rules were announced, retailer John Lewis said it was suspending its click and collect services as it felt the country was at a “critical point in the pandemic”.
The emergency Level 4 rules were imposed across mainland Scotland and Skye on Boxing Day. All other island areas were placed at Level 3. Schools were kept closed to most pupils beyond the end of the winter holiday.
Sturgeon issued a “stay at home” order last week unless for essential reasons.
But infection levels continue to rise and hospitals are under pressure. There were concerns people are still mixing too freely despite the health crisis and new rapidly spreading variant of Covid-19.
A further 79 coronavirus deaths were recorded in Scotland over the past 24 hours.
The First Minister confirmed 1949 new cases of Covid-19 were reported overnight, taking the total figure to 155,372.
She said 1794 people were in hospital, up 77 overnight, while 134 people remained in intensive care.
Business leaders said the new restrictions will hurt already battered retail and hospitality sectors.
Scottish Retail Consortium director David Lonsdale said: “We fully recognise the government wants people to stay home. However, these further revenue-crushing restrictions and the fresh complexity they
bring, together with constant chopping and changing to the Covid Strategic Framework, are disconcerting and come at an incredibly difficult time for retail.
“The businesses affected – who have already lost much of their income during the crisis – are trying to make the best fist possible of the current severely curtailed trading conditions, and that just got even harder as a result of this decision which will add to their cash-flow woes.”
Andrew McRae, of the Federation of
Small Businesses, said: “For those businesses that now do need to cease trading, their attention will quickly turn to where they can get financial help and support from the Government.”
Scottish Tories have criticised the SNP over business support. A new fund designed to help businesses during the Covid-19 crisis had to be closed within just 24 hours after being inundated with bids for cash, it emerged yesterday.
Sturgeon said the Digital Boost fund “has very quickly been oversubscribed” and ministers are now looking at how additional cash could be put into it.
Scottish Conservative Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson said it shows how “desperate” firms are for financial aid during the pandemic.