Strict lockdown rules extended amid progress
Restrictions to last until middle of February
FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has extended lockdown until the middle of next month, at least. The national “stay at home” lockdown was to be in place until January 31.
Following a review of the restrictions and their impact, the First Minister said the Scottish cabinet has decided we need to stick with the current rules “for a further period”.
Sturgeon said she believed that the lockdown restrictions are beginning to have an impact, with case numbers that had been rising rapidly appearing to have stabilised and even declined.
However, the number of cases and the number of people in hospital and in intensive care were still too high to remove restrictions, she added.
Sturgeon said the country was still in a “very precarious position” .
The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament: “The number of Covid patients in intensive care remains below the first wave peak.
“However, it has increased by more than 90% since the turn of the year.
“In total, taking account of Covid and non-Covid patients, there are around 260 patients in intensive care beds across Scotland. This compares to a normal ICU capacity of around 170.
“So the pressure the NHS is facing right now is real and severe and it is, of course, having a significant consequential impact on non-Covid elective care.
“That means that the lockdown restrictions, including the strict stay-at-home requirement, will remain in place across mainland Scotland and some island communities until at least the middle of February.
“Cabinet will review the situation again on February 2.”
It means nobody who lives in an area under lockdown should leave or remain outside their home except for an essential purpose such as caring responsibilities, outdoor exercise and work that cannot be done from home.
The latest statistics showed there were 1165 new cases reported in the preceding 24 hours.
There were 1989 people in hospital, up 30, and 150 in intensive care, up by 4.
Another 71 deaths were registered of someone who tested positive in the previous 28 days.
The First Minister faced questions from opposition leaders on the progress of the vaccination programme.
Sturgeon said that the total number now vaccinated had reached 284,582 people, which was a rise of just over 19,000 on the previous day.
She said: “The vaccination programme is progressing well and it is picking up pace.
“We are now vaccinating approximately 100,000 people a week.”
Sturgeon said the government was on track to be vaccinating 400,000 people a week by the end of February.
She said that 90% of care home residents have been vaccinated with a first dose and70% of care home staff and frontline health and care workers have now had their first dose.
The First Minister explained that because in Scotland the plan was to start in care homes, vaccination figures were lower than in England.
Scottish Labour’s interim leader Jackie Baillie sought an assurance that that all over-80s would be vaccinated by the end of February and said the programme would need to be “ramped up” to achieve it. Conservative Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson said that there were 400,000 doses delivered to Scotland not reaching patients.
Sturgeon replied: “Supplies are allocated to Scotland, they are then drawn down to Scotland, and we vaccinate as quickly as we possibly can.”
She accused the UK Government of “briefing and spinning misleading figures on supply”