FM warns people not to flout travel restrictions

Nicola Sturgeon has warned a panScotland lockdown could be imposed if people flout Covid travel restrictions to do their Christmas shopping.

The first minister said an approach like the one being taken in England, where the whole country has been put into severe restrictions, would have to be introduced north of the border if regulations are ignored.

The warning was issued at Ms Sturgeon’s daily coronavirus briefing where she announced there had been a further 32 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Ms Sturgeon was speaking just before large parts of west and central Scotland were put into Tier 4 restrictions, the tightest measures under the Scottish Government’s fivetier system.

Ms Sturgeon said the tougher restrictions , imposed for a three-week period, would hopefully allow measures to be relaxed in time for Christmas.

But even if infection rates drop, she warned that easing of restrictions for Christmas would not be risk-free and urged people to take that into account when mak ing the ir arrangements for the festivities.

At the briefing , Ms Sturgeon was told that some people in Tier 4 areas were worried they would not get what they needed for Christmas and was asked what she would do to stop them going to lowertier areas to do their shopping.

Ms Sturgeon said the police would enforce the t rave l ban when “appropriate”, adding that she thought the majority of people would observe it.

“If we can’ t, though, maintain a tiered approach that allows us to have lower restrictions in areas of lower prevalence, then, as England is doing already, we would have to consider having the same level of restrictions across the whole country ,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“But I don’t think that should be something that becomes inevitable.

“I am being very open with people that if we want to keep this targeted approach, travel restrictions are key part of that.

“And people should abide by them, as I believe they will.”

Ms Sturgeon advised people to shop online if what they wanted was not available in “essential” shops.

But she said people living in areas like Glasgow and Stirling should not travel to Tier 3 areas to shop because that would put people in those areas at risk.

“It sounds harsh, sounds pretty blunt.

“But given what we face right now and given what we know we can do to limit the risks, I think it is important for me to be blunt and straight with people,” she added.

Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Angus, and Fife have been put in Tier 3, while Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City are in Tier 2. Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are in Tier 1 of the zero to four system.

Ms Sturgeon said, like others, she was frustrated by the restrictions but said they were necessary.

“These restrictions are difficult and we are all scunnered and fed up and I’m not going to stand here and pretend otherwise because I feel that same sense of being utterly sc unnered and fed up as the rest of you do,” she said.

She argued measures will help infection rates come down further before the Christmas period.

“The fact is, the fewer people who have Covid by the time we get to Christmas, the lower the risk of people being infected with it during that period,” she said.

“It’s very important for me to be clear that the risks would not be zero – which is why we must be very careful about any relaxation over Christmas and people will have to think carefully themselves, even with any relaxation, about what they want to do or not.”