‘Scotland will still be facing public health emergency in September’

Scotland will still be facing a public health emergency in September, Covid recovery secretary John Swinney has told MSPS.

Mr Swinney said the nature of the virus, combined with variants, would mean that protection from emergency coronavirus legislation would still be necessary in three months.

In a ministerial statement to Holyrood on the Coronavirus Acts, Mr Swinney gave a report ahead of a vote to extend emergency powers granted to the government. Currently, emergency powers expire on September 30.

In response to a question on Wednesday from Scottish Conservatives’ Don0 John Swinney legislation still necessary in 3 months

ald Cameron as to whether it was necessary to extend the legislation beyond its existing limit, Mr Swinney said: “We have got to go about making sure we have in place appropriate arrangements that enable our public services – and a wide variety of other examples to be able to be conducted within a context that is compatible with the current public health environment in Scotland.

"So this question that Mr Cameron raises is one which needs to be addressed by considering the public health emergency that I expect us still to be facing in September.

"And because of the nature of coronavirus, the mutations of the variants that we are all facing and having to respond to, on that basis, the necessity of these provisions being in place is apparent to me.”

Mr Swinney pointed to Wednesday’s case figures, with more than 1,000 cases of Covid recorded in Scotland.