Lothians ‘under review’ for further Covid restrictions
Edinburgh and the Lothians remain “under review” over whether further Covid restrictions will be imposed but extra measures have been ruled out for now.
Nicola Sturgeon said health officials had considered whether to recommend that Lothian should be subjected to the same clampdown as a large area of the west of Scotland, where people are banned from visiting each other ’s homes.
A further 53 people in Edinburgh and the Lothians had tested positive for coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, the First Minister told the daily briefing yesterday.
But because there was no “theme” in the increase, it was decided not to impose restrictions beyond those which apply to the whole of Scotland - what is being described as the “six-two rule”, limiting meetings inside or outside to six people from two households.
Ms Sturgeon said: “We are monitoring the case numbers in Lothian very closely.
“The national incident management team that made the recommendation to continue the restrictions in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde areas looked closely at Lothian and decided not to recommend any additional
restrictions, but that remains under review.
“One of the reasons for that decision not to recommend additional restrictions at this stage is that unlike Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire there wasn’t a sense there was a particular driver that necessitated particular restrictions at this stage.
“But as with every aspect of Covid this is a changing and changeable situation, so we will monitor it.
“If everybody abides by the restrictions to limit meet-ups to six people from two households, if they all follow the Facts advice, if they download the Protect Scotland app, if they do all of the right things then we can avoid any stricter restrictions in Lothian.”
Of the latest 267 coronavirus cases reported, 101 were in the Greater Glasgow and
Clyde health board, 59 in Lanarkshire, 53 in Lothian and 13 in Ayrshire and Arran. The remaining 41 cases were spread across the remaining seven health board areas.
The ban on households meeting up was first imposed in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire. Then, as Covid-19 case numbers rose across west central Scotland, Ms Sturgeon extended them to Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, then North and South Lanarkshire.
National clinical director Jason Leitch said: “Lothian is next on the league table but there is no theme coming through from Test and Protect that tells us to do anything more than we have done across the whole country.
“It is up to the people of Lothian to get these numbers down and their individual behaviours will do that.”
Ms Sturgeon told the briefing the west of Scotland ban on household visits appeared to be having an effect. She said: “The good news is that the early indications suggest that the restrictions in place in Glasgow City, East and West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire might be helping to slow down the increase in new cases. That at this stage is positive.”