Lockdown fears as new cases hitrecord numbers

NICOLA Sturgeon has warned Scots they face a new lockdown after a “surge” in Covid cases.

The First Minister spoke as a record number of infections

were announced. Sturgeon has lifted most of the restrictions that were put in place last year due to a successful vaccine rollout.

But with social mixing now allowed and a sizeable number of young people still not doubled jabbed, infection rates are surging.

Yesterday, it was announced there had been 4323 new cases in the previous 24 hours – a record for a single day – and 10 deaths.

Sturgeon said new cases had more than doubled in a week, making it “one of the sharpest rises we have experienced” during the pandemic.

Hospital and intensive care cases had also increased.

Sturgeon warned the country is at a “fragile and potentially pivotal moment” in the fight against the virus as jabs had not completely broken the link between cases and serious harm.

She added: “If this surge continues, and if it accelerates, and if we start to see evidence of a substantial increase in serious illness as a result, we cannot completely rule out having to reimpose some restrictions.

“We hope not to have to do that and, if we did, we’d be as limited and as proportionate as possible.

“What happens in the next few weeks will depend, to a large extent, on all of us. We always knew cases were likely to rise as restrictions eased, so what we are seeing is not entirely unexpected.

“That said, the scale of the increase is a cause of real concern.”

With jabs “making a big difference”, Sturgeon said many new cases were in younger people “less likely” to be double-dosed.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP has failed to keep the pandemic under control and to ensure we have a properly functioning test and protect system. People should not have to face further restrictions simply because of the Government’s failings.”

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s threat to impose more constraints on people is unjustifiable, given the success of the vaccine scheme.”