The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Aberdeen lockdown restrictions to be lifted, government confirms
A number of lockdown restrictions will be lifted at midnight in Aberdeen, the Scottish Government has announced.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the timeline after a SGORR meeting yesterday.
The Scottish Government said the city will be “broadly in line with the rest of Scotland” as of Monday.
Ms Sturgeon said: “I am grateful to people in Aberdeen – the local authority and health board, local businesses, and everyone who lives there – for complying so well with the rules that were put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“In particular, I am grateful for the understanding of the businesses that were required to close in order to help beat the virus.
“It’s due to the commitment of people in the city, as well as worldclass contact tracing, that means we are now able to lift some of these measures from Monday and then again from Wednesday, but it is vitally important that everyone follows the FACTS rules in order to prevent an outbreak of this scale occurring again.
“That way we can move forward and get our economy, our society and our lives generally back to as much normality as possible.”
From today, the five-mile travel limit, restrictions on gatherings and limitations on hospital and care home visits will be lifted, while non-hospitality businesses will also reopen.
Restaurants, pubs, casinos and other such premises will be able to open from Wednesday, once environmental health checks have been completed.
Latest figures show a total of 427 cases have been identified in the NHS Grampian area since July 26.
Of these 259 are associated with the same cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 1,258 contacts have now been identified from those.
“We are now able to lift some of these measures from Monday and then again from Wednesday. NICOLA STURGEON