Warning region could be heading into Tier 3

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she could not rule out Fife being placed into stricter coronavirus measures next week.

The kingdom is currently on Tier 2 of the national measures, but may have to enter Tier 3 when the reevaluation is conducted next week.

Ms Sturgeon would not say if the measures would be brought in because of transmission of Covid-19 into the local authority area by people from the central belt and Dundee, but the levels of infection in Fife were “a bit of a concern”.

She said: “In relation to Fife, we will be looking over the weekend, in advance of Tuesday, at all local authorities, their case numbers per 100,000, what the projections are and hospital capacity.

“We will be applying judgment on that and coming to decisions about whether each local authority is in the right level, or whether they need to go up or, in some limited cases, come down.

“I do not wish to preempt those decisions before they are taken. Suffice to say, Fife is one of the local authorities we are looking at very closely.

“I certainly would not rule out the application of a higher level at this stage but nor am I indicating this is a decision being taken.

“We do see indicators in Fife which give us pause for thought and a bit of concern.

“I don’t know and can’t say if that is because of people travelling from the central belt into Fife, but unless you have an essential reason to do that... then, please, do not do that. You risk taking the virus with you.”

Despite travel between protection levels being discouraged, those who do will still not be fined or prosecuted.

Extended households can also travel between restriction zones.

The first minister would not rule out journe ys between extended households in different level local authority areas being made illegal.

She added: “If we go down the road of enforcement, we will set out all of the limits and restrictions around it so people are able to know what they can and cannot do.

“We try not to affect people’s ability to form extended households and that is true with travel restrictions as well.

“Extended households

are about trying to deal with some of the problems with loneliness and isolation the pandemic restrictions bring, so we want to protect that as much as possible.

“If we move to a more regulated and legal basis for travel restrictions, we will be very clear about what is allowed and what is not.”

Scotland has recorded 31 deaths from coronavirus and 1,072 positive tests in the past 24 hours.

The first minister said the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – has risen to 2,997.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing, she said 70,732 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 69,660 the previous day.

The daily test positivity rate is 5.5%, down from 7.6% on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 460 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 210 in Lanarkshire, 112 in Lothian, and 75 in Ayrshire and Arran.

There are 1,237 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, down by 15 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 98 are in intensive care, up by three, Ms Sturgeon said.

Nicola Sturgeon.