After 12 months of misery, some relief for small businesses ...but vaccinations are falling behind

Stephen Gow of the Chester Hotel in Aberdeen said: ‘We hope for a smoother transition back to trading than reopenings in 2020 where the lead time given before reopening proved challenging operationally. The ability to open our rooms from April 26 is also positive news.’

Emma Matthews of Timeless White, an Aberdeen wedding planning service, said: ‘We’ve needed this for a while. There’s no better gathering of people to know exactly who was sat down where, so we feel it wouldn’t be that difficult to do Track and Trace in a wedding setting if we had to.’

Drew Gallagher of Cardwell Garden Centre, near Gourock, Renfrewshire, said: ‘The announcement from the First Minister is in the nick of time. The growing season has started and people are desperate to choose the seeds and plants they want for their garden.’

Riccardo Corvi, hairdresser and director of Rainbow Room International in Ayr, said: ‘We are proud to have kept all our team members.

‘Furlough and the grant schemes have been a huge help but our industry could have been helped with a 5 per cent VAT figure in line with the dining sector.’

Allan Henderson, director of Aberdeen-based bar and restaurant chain the McGinty’s Group, said: ‘We have this ridiculous scenario that even in May we can have just two households per table. That’s not conducive to how hospitality works. Our capacity will be halved.’

Seumas MacInnes, owner of Café Gandolfi in Glasgow, said: ‘I don’t understand why we can’t serve alcohol with food when pubs can open outdoors and serve it without food.

‘The profit margin on food is low and most restaurants depend on alcohol sales so some may not open.’

THERE are fears Scotland is falling behind in the race to vaccinate the entire UK population as Nicola Sturgeon announced her route out of lockdown.

More than one million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Scotland but have not yet been used.

A slower rollout could put the return of greater normality in the summer in doubt.

The First Minister has repeatedly claimed that ‘supply shortages’ have affected the rollout in recent weeks.

But latest figures published by the Scottish Government show that 3,209,170 doses of the vaccine have been allocated to Scotland.

Some 1,943,507 people have been given the first dose, as well as 170,892 who have received the second dose.

That means just under 1.1million doses have been allocated but have not yet made it into people’s arms.

The latest figures also show that 42.2 per cent of the adult population in Scotland has received the jab, compared with 48.0 per cent in England.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘There can be no let-up in getting the vaccine into people’s arms.

‘These figures show that there is an abundance of vaccine supplies coming into Scotland despite what SNP ministers have been saying.

‘The vaccination programme has become a huge Scottish and UK success story and that must continue. It would be inexcusable if the SNP once again let Scotland lag behind other parts of the United Kingdom.

‘SNP ministers cannot sit on a million unused doses for a moment longer and should ensure that there are no further delays in the coming weeks and months.’

Miss Sturgeon yesterday insisted the vaccine rollout will ramp up again to 400,000 doses a week this week and through next month.

Scotland lagged well behind England in the earlier stages of the rollout, then caught up when Armed Forces personnel were drafted in to help.

It is understood that the re-emergence of a gap between Scotland and England has alarmed UK Government officials.

Scottish Government figures show 3,209,170 doses had been allocated as of Monday. Of them, 2,673,640 have been delivered.

On the previous Monday, 2,882,440 doses had been allocated and 2,189,030 had been delivered.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘More than 2.6million vaccine doses have been delivered to Scotland, with more than 2.1million already given to people in first and second doses.

‘That means the vast majority of the supply available has either already been administered or is with NHS boards for use in the coming week when, as the First Minister has made clear, we expect around 400,000 vaccinations to be administered.’

‘Ensure there are no delays’