Summer holiday? Don’t book it yet!
Leitch pours cold water on longed-for getaways
FAMILIES are bei ng a dvi s e d not t o book summer holidays unless they are sure they can get their money back if the breaks are cancelled.
Despite the rollout of the Covid vaccine, it is unlikely we will be back to ‘normal’ by the middle of the year, the National Clinical Director warned.
It is a blow for Scots desperately hoping that the immunisation programme will lead to a quick easing of restrictions.
Meanwhile, MSPs are calling for more support for police to uphold the current travel bans.
Yesterday, during a meeting of Holyrood’s Covid-19 committee, National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch was asked whether people could start to plan summer holidays. He said: ‘I certainly wouldn’t book anything you can’t cancel and can’t get your money back from.
‘But I am very hopeful that next summer will l ook a l ot more normal than the summer we’ve just come through.’
He said the vaccine provides ‘green shoots’ – but warned it is not yet ‘population-level’ and ‘will not be for some months’.
He added: ‘ By the summer we will know a lot more. We will hopefully have vaccinated the vast majority of the at- risk community and will be into the less-risky communities by then.
‘We will know whether the vaccine gives you coverage from transmission as well as disease.
‘The crucial unknown is what will happen in the rest of the world. This is a global problem, it is not a Scottish problem. There will be international travel restrictions, I think, for some time.’
He said the vaccine is an encouraging start but warned that it is possible the virus ‘might change’. He said it is not likely just now but there needs to be ‘a small note of caution’.
Meanwhile, an MSP has called for the police to be given more support to uphold the travel ban aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. The legal restrictions came into effect on November 20.
At First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed Police Scotland handed out 33 fines in the first five days of the ban.
Nationalist MSP Stuart McMill an said his constituents in Inverclyde – in Level 3 – had said people had been travelling into the area to shop, and asked whether more support could be given to police for enforcement.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We don’t want to take the virus from high to low-prevalence areas. The purpose of these restrictions, which none of us enjoy living under, is to protect the NHS and save lives.’
Miss Sturgeon said policing resources are a matter for the Chief Constable, but added that she was sure officers would continue to deal with the coronavirus laws ‘appropriately’.
She said the Scottish Government and Police Scotland hoped the public would adhere to the rules, adding: ‘We want to see these laws work through high levels of public compliance rather than relying on enforcement.
‘That said, Police Scotland will uphold the law using the same approach they have adopted since the start of the pandemic.’
‘Travel restrictions for some time’