The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Sturgeon issues festive season warning – and backs three-tier system
Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to stay out of each other’s houses now if they want to see friends and family “a bit more normally” closer to Christmas.
The first minister said if the country sticks to the current coronavirus restrictions then there are greater prospects of having a Christmas that “might not be 100% normal but closer to that than it would otherwise be”.
Speaking during the Scottish Government ’s daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith also said the country will be “living with the virus for years to come” but that the approach for tackling the virus would “evolve”.
When asked if Scots should currently hold off on booking travel for the festive period, Ms Sturgeon said she would “err on the side of caution at the moment”.
She said: “It’s going to be important over the next few weeks to give people clear advice and clear steers and parameters in which we can all try to have the best Christmas possible.
“I want people to get to Christmas and for all of us, myself included, to be able to enjoy it as freely as possible.”
Ms Sturgeon said she did not want to speculate on how the festive holiday might be celebrated this year but said this would be “firmed up” over the next few weeks. She said it was “unlikely” to be the same as it is outside a pandemic, but it would be as “close to that as possible”.
The first minister added: “Stay out of each other’s houses right now and it’s more likely we’ll be able to see friends and family a bit more normally a bit closer to Christmas.”
The SNP leader used yesterday ’s briefing to update the public on the most recent coronavirus figures, which show there were 961 positive cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, at a positivity rate of 17.1%.
Of the new cases, 359 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 244 in Lanarkshire, 112 in Lothian and 88 in Ayrshire and Arran.
A total of 487 people were in hospital, an increase of 38 since Sunday, and 36 were in intensive care, up one.
No deaths of confirmed Covid-19 patients have been recorded in the past 24 hours but this was largely due to registration offices being closed on a Sunday, the first minister said.
Dr Smith said he believes the country will be “living with the virus for years to come”.
But he added he did not think the public would be “living as we are just now”, as the government would “evolve its approach” by making use of treatments and vaccines.
Ms Sturgeon said the new Covid-19 alert system for England, announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons yesterday, will “give an idea” of a similar scheme to be proposed in Scotland.
The new system will offer three different classifications for local areas, depending on the prevalence of Covid-19 – medium, high or very high risk.
The first minister said: “At a strategic level, we will be looking to align as closely as possible with the other UK nations – I think it is important and it makes sense to try to do that, though, I would stress that operational decisions about what tiers may apply in which parts of our nations will be for each of us to take at a devolved level.”
The new tiered alert system for Scotland will be put before MS P sf or approval after the October recess and would come into effect when stricter measures are due to be eased on October 25.