TIERED COVID- 19 RULES PLANNED
Scotland will seek to align with UK’s new virus approach
BOR IS Johnson has announced a three- tier lockdown system for England – which Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would seek to be closely aligned with.
The Prime Minister said the system of Medium, High and Very High would determine what interventions were needed in certain areas to reduce the spread of coronavirus but avoid entering a full- scale national lockdown again.
The new system will put areas of England into one of the three categories depending on the rate of infections and restrictions would be imposed on those areas accordingly.
The Medium alert level will cover most of England and will consist of the current national measures, including the rule of six and the 10pm curfew.
The High alert level reflects interventions in many areas subject to local restrictions, preventing mixing between different households indoors.
Most areas which are already subject to local restrictions will automatically move into this category.
The Very High alert level means the closure of pubs and bars and a ban on social mixing indoors and in private gardens.
Areas in the top tier will be able to impose extra restrictions, such as closing leisure centres, gyms, betting shops and casinos.
Johnson said that an agreement has been reached with Liverpool that it would be the first to enter Very High level and discussions were ongoing with other local leaders in the north of England.
He ruled out “letting the virus rip” as it would lead to many deaths and overwhelm the NHS.
He cautioned against another full national lockdown, saying the UK Government would continue the “balanced approach of changing behaviour to restrict the virus” – but also that “we need to go further”.
A UK Cobra emergency meeting was held yesterday and the First Minister was made aware of England’s plans.
The First Minister said while Scotland will develop its own tiered system, it would be broadly similar to what the Prime Minister announced.
Sturgeon said: “We will look at it very closely.
“At a strategic level we are looking to align very closely with the other UK nations but decisions will be for each to take at a devolved level.”
She added Scotland would be looking at the same “direction of travel” as what the Prime Minister announced for England.
She said as Scotland comes out of the restrictions that were imposed for two weeks there will be a “strategic framework with tiers of interventions”.
Sturgeon said that while she did not think tighter restrictions were inevitable, they could not be “emphatically” ruled out.
She gave the latest daily update on coronavirus cases, hospital cases and deaths.
There were 961 new positive test results taking the total to 39,959.
Greater Glasgow again had the highest number with 359 in the health board area, which includes seven council areas.
There were 487 people in hospital in Scotland who had tested positive for coronavirus, an increase of 38 from the day before – and 36 people were in intensive care.
The First Minister said there had been no deaths registered in the previous 24 hours. However, she said there had been six deaths registered since Friday.