It all ends in tiers but will it save Xmas?

Amid fresh job warnings, priority must be to help hard-pressed businesses survive to see the new year

You only have to glance at the multitude of strategies being employed around Europe to realise there is no silver bullet in the fight against Covid.

Three tiers or five? Schools open or closed? Circuit breaker national lockdown or local restrictions? The truth is that every government, right or left, is calling it as they see it, based on their own scientific advice and circumstance. No-one has the answer because the only solution is a vaccine.

Yesterday we got more information on how Scotland’s five tier system will work, including what level four could mean – “a short, sharp intervention to address extremely high transmission rates”. How short will be the question many businesses in North and South Lanarkshire will be asking.

We already have a pretty good idea that much of the Central Belt will be in Level Three with some relaxation in rules for the hard-pressed hospitality industry albeit bars and restaurants will still not be permitted to sell alcohol either indoors or outside, and will be ordered to close by 6pm.

There is more respite in areas below level three with pubs being allowed to sell alcohol again, but it may well still be a case of too little, too late for many. There are already warnings that some businesses will not reopen again before Christmas if at all.

Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday now was the time to "dig in" which would allow people to enjoy some more normality over the festive period.

But the balancing act between the impact on the economy and suppression of this virus has barely seemed so fragile.

All businesses need certainty, something which is understandably impossible to achieve at the moment. In the absence of that, they require support, and those now facing extended closure especially so.

Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, put it in stark terms as he warned of “imminent announcements of redundancies on a worrying scale” particularly for any businesses placed in level three or four.

We will have to wait to see if Scotland’s five tier system will save Christmas. But how we ensure that as many businesses as possible survive to see in the new year is now an absolute priority.