Lockdown tightened around Glasgow as virus cases surge
New rules on household visits after 314 positive Covid tests in two days
NICOLA Sturgeon has reinstated household lockdown restrictions in three areas, including Glasgow, following a jump in coronavirus cases.
The First Minister said residents in West Dunbartonshire, Glasgow city and East Renfrewshire should no longer host people from other households indoors or visit other people’s homes.
It has also been announced that travellers from Greece will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days on arrival in Scotland from 4am tomorrow.
The move is due to a significant rise in cases of Covid-19 being imported from the Mediterranean country, ministers said.
Ms Sturgeon said there were 314 new Covid-19 cases north of the Border in the last two days, and
135 of these were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
In a statement last night, she said the new rules affecting households should be a “wake-up call”.
Pubs and restaurants will remain open, as will schools and nurseries. Plans for the opening of colleges and universities remain in place.
Members of different households can continue to meet outdoors, including in gardens, and in hospitality venues, provided all existing guidance is followed.
But the First Minister said the only exception to the new indoor household restrictions, other than in emergencies or to provide care for a vulnerable person, relates to the extended households that were established during lockdown.
These allowed those who live alone, couples who do not live together and parents who live alone with children under 18 to join with another household to provide mutual support.
In addition to the indoor restrictions, if any member of a household in the three council areas is identified as a close contact of a confirmed positive case of Covid-19, the entire household should now self-isolate for 14 days.
Indoor visits to hospitals and care homes will be limited to essential visits only to protect the most vulnerable. Outdoor visits to care homes are permitted by three people from a maximum of two households, in line with current guidance.
Those who were previously advised to shield will “receive advice to be extra vigilant at this time”, Ms Sturgeon said.
The measures, which will affect more than 800,000 people came into force from midnight.
The First Minister said the expectation is the measures will be in place for two weeks. However, they will be reviewed after one week.
She said she “cannot rule out” taking further action, adding: “I want to stress and assure everybody in these three local authority areas that these are decisions that have not been taken lightly. They form guidance at the moment, but we will also consider, if necessary, putting them into regulation and giving them the force of law.”
Ms Sturgeon said West Dunbartonshire’s daily incident
rate of Covid is nearly 33 per 100,000 people.
The City of Glasgow’s is nearly 22 and East Renfrewshire’s is almost 19. For comparison, the rate across Scotland has been rising in recent days but remains at just over 10.
The First Minister said transmission appears to be happening inside people’s homes and between households, rather than in pubs and restaurants, as happened in Aberdeen before its local lockdown last month.
She said Covid-19 continues to be a “dangerous and sometimes deadly virus”, adding: “It is spreading again, particularly in these three local authority areas, and we believe that in these areas it is spreading primarily as a result of household gatherings.”
Ms Sturgeon said the latest steps will allow schools to stay open and will limit the impact on jobs and the economy.
She said: “I know how unwelcome this news this evening will be for people who live in these areas.
“I know that because I am one of you. I live in Glasgow so these rules apply to me as they do to everybody else in these areas.
“I won’t be able to have my family visit me at home, and nor will I be able to travel to a different local authority, in my case Ayrshire, to visit them. While I know this will be hard, it is essential.”
Last night, travellers from Greece became the latest to face quarantine restrictions on their return, with the move coming into force from 4am on Thursday.
Yesterday’s Covid figures showed 66 new cases in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, out of 154 across Scotland. On Monday, 160 new infections were confirmed, the highest total since May 16.
However, yesterday’s figures also showed no Covid-19 deaths were registered in Scotland in the previous 24 hours.
Six patients were in intensive care with Covid-19, the highest number since June and up from one a week ago.
There were a total of 264 people - including intensive care patients – in hospital with confirmed cases, up six in 24 hours and from 243 a week ago.
Professor Linda Bauld, an expert in public health at Edinburgh University, said: “The number of cases is really worrying even though the test positivity rate is still low.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to see those hospitalisations and deaths anywhere near what we had [previously] because we mostly know how to protect the nursing homes now, which is where the big risk was.
“But I think we are going to see more hospital admissions gradually creeping up because that is the pattern internationally.”
It came as it emerged more than
100 school pupils in Scotland have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the new term, while tens of thousands of children are absent from school.
Education Secretary John Swinney said 77 young people aged between 12 and 17 have tested positive, alongside 40 pupils aged between five and 11. However, he said 11,208 children between 12 and 17 have tested negative, as well as 28,664 of those between five and 11.
Provisional figures showed that as of Friday, August 28, there were 22,821 pupils absent either for all or part of the school day because of Covid-related reasons. The overall attendance rate at state primary, secondary and special schools was 84.5%.
Mr Swinney, who was responding to a question from Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene in Holyrood, said the virus is mostly being passed on in household settings.
His comments came as a survey by the EIS teaching union found that 92% of its union representatives reported there had been no reductions in class sizes to help with physical distancing inside schools.
The survey, which attracted responses from almost 600 schools across the country, also revealed 30% of EIS representatives reported physical distancing measures were not being put in place between staff and youngsters in their school.
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan described the results as “worrying reading”.
Meanwhile, separate research by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) union found almost two-fifths of teachers (38%) were “not confident” about keeping safe. With more than 2,000 teachers surveyed, just 6% said they were
“very confident” about coronavirus safety, with a further 1% “extremely confident”.
The SSTA survey also found a third of teachers said physical distancing measures had not been introduced in their school building.
Elsewhere, new research showed younger adults reported higher levels of worry as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown. Psychologists at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) surveyed 726 people living in Scotland during lockdown to find out the impact that coronavirus measures were having on mental health.
Despite having the lowest risk of serious illness from the virus, they found nearly half (48%) of participants aged 18 to 24 met the criteria for anxiety, compared to around a quarter of those aged 45 to 64.
The researchers also found a “significant association” between anxiety and exposure to Covid-19related information on social media, with those who reported frequent use of social media – defined as checking for updates 20 or more times a day – being nearly twice as likely to be suffering from anxiety as those with low social media use.
The research was led by GCU head of psychology Dr Kerri Mcpherson and senior lecturer in applied health psychology Dr Kareena Mcaloney, with support from lecturer Dr Birgit Schroeter and researcher Pia Faeth.
It came as data from Public Health Scotland showed that by June this year, 1,136 children and young people had been waiting more than a year for treatment through the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) – an increase of 581 on the same point last year.
Campaigners also warned over a “staggering” 56% drop in referrals to 3,985 between April and June this year, compared to 9,017 during the previous three months.
I know that because I am one of you. I live in Glasgow so these rules apply to me