‘It made me want to cry’: Sturgeon laments reports of large crowds at city pubs.

FM says she could have wept at sight of crowds gathering outside pubs

Nicola Sturgeon said pictures of people crowding outside Aberdeen pubs “made her want to cry” as she announced 11 new positive Covid-19 cases had been recorded in Grampian.

At her daily coronavirus briefing the first minister said she would not hesitate to reimpose lockdown restrictions on pubs and restaurants.

There were no new Covid deaths to report for the 18th day in a row, but the first minster said there had been 18 new positive cases over the last 24 hours, including 11 in the NHS Grampian area.

Ms Sturgeon said it was too early to say if some or all of the new cases were linked to the Aberdeen cluster, which arose when 13 people tested positive in an outbreak linked to the Hawthorn Bar on Holburn Street.

The first minister warned the Aberdeen cluster numbers may still rise as she thanked the Hawthorn Bar for “acting swiftly and co-operating fully” with the coronavirus procedures.

It later emerged 27 cases were being linked to the bar.

An NHS Grampian-led incident team is working with the Scottish Government, Health Protection Scotland and local environmental health teams to minimise transmission by tracing contacts and inspecting premises.

Ms Sturgeon said it was “very likely” more clusters would arise, adding the Aberdeen outbreak was “exactly what I feared when we reopened hospitality”.

Ms Sturgeon described social media photos of people thronging outside Aberdeen pubs as “dangerous”.

“I’ve seen pictures on social media from this weekend that – not to put too fine a point on it – made me want to cry looking at them,” Ms Sturgeon said, adding that flouting the rules put everyone at risk.

Reopening the economy was a “delicate balance” that did not take much to be “thrown off kilter”, she said.

“If that happens then we will unfortunately – it’s not something I want to do – have to consider further restrictions up to and including, perhaps, the further shutdown of premises like pubs and restaurants, and that’s the last thing I want to do.

“I’ve made no bones about the fact that the return of schools, for obvious reasons, the wellbeing of our young people, is the priority of the government.

“We will not allow that to be compromised if taking action elsewhere can protect that objective.”

Ms Sturgeon also declined to rule out changing guidance for indoor eating and drinking establishments like increasing social distancing from one to two metres, a change that would have a profound impact on customer numbers. She also said the prospect of local lockdowns would be kept under review.

The prospect of Scotland failing to move to the next phase out of lockdown for many months was raised, with Ms Sturgeon saying phase three is likely to continue for the “foreseeable future”.

“One of the criteria we’ve got to satisfy ourselves of to go into phase four is that the judgment is that this virus no longer presents a significant threat to public health and we’re not there yet right now. We’re not anywhere near that right now,” she said.

The alarm bells must be ringing at Bute House, the first minister’s official residence. Nicola Sturgeon said scenes of pub-goers eschewing all pretence of social distancing at the weekend had almost brought her to tears.

She will not be alone in her despair. Photographs of relatively widespread partying emerged just as Scotland came to terms with a new Covid cluster identified among drinkers at an Aberdeen bar.

That situation demonstrates that coronavirus remains a clear and present danger to public health.

But there are growing concerns that warnings about the lethal potential of Covid-19 are now being treated with complacency and even disdain in some quarters.

That is a depressing thought, especially on a day when the lockdown restrictions imposed on tens of thousands of Scotland’s most vulnerable people are being eased.

Those who have been shielding for months will be anxious enough about their reintegration into society without fears of Scotland shooting itself in the foot by letting Covid regain ground unnecessarily.

This is not the boy who cried wolf. Covid-19 is all too real and will continue to stalk our communities and kill wherever it gets the opportunity.

The process of lifting lockdown restrictions has gone relatively smoothly thus far in Scotland. But if we let our guard down then we must brace for turbulent times ahead.