Swinney repeats ‘stay local’ plea
DEPUTY First Minister John Swinney has urged people in Scotland to continue following Covid restrictions over the remainder of the Easter break.
The stay-at-home order was lifted on Friday and replaced with guidance to “stay local”, which urged people to remain within their local authority area.
Further easing will take place today – with garden centres, homeware stores and click-and-collect services allowed to reopen, along with barbers and hairdressers.
On a visit to a garden centre in Perthshire, Swinney said: “It’s wonderful to be out and about again. After the long winter months of being cooped up inside, I know everyone will be keen to get back to our more normal lives.
“We’re seeing real progress in our fight against this dreadful pandemic. The hard sacrifices of the country, coupled with the fantastic effort of the vaccine programme, is paying dividends. It’s great news that garden centres and hairdressers are allowed to reopen, but everyone needs to bear in mind it doesn’t mean the virus has gone away.
“It’s down but not yet out and the last thing we need is to see it making a comeback and undoing the progress from the massive effort and sacrifices we’ve all had to make.”
A further 343 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland over the last 24 hours. The Scottish Government said yesterday no new deaths had been reported and a total of 2,553,837 people had received the first dose of the Covid vaccination. In addition, 451,057 had received their second dose.
Hospital, ICU and total numbers of deaths and cases in Scotland are unavailable over the Easter weekend.