Towns keep lockdown as cases rise
RESIDENTS in southern Scotland had to stay within their local area yesterday – even as people elsewhere enjoyed their new range of phase two freedoms.
A cross-Border spike in coronavirus infections last week has meant tougher lockdown measures – such as the five-mile travel rule – remain in place in parts of Dumfriesshire.
Residents in and around Annan, Gretna, Dumfries, Lockerbie, Langholm and Canonbie are being urged to stay at home.
In particular, people have been warned not to travel to England to celebrate pubs reopening there for the first time in three months.
It comes after 11 positive cases of coronavirus were confirmed around Annan and Gretna, and in the North-West of England. Figures yesterday showed there was one new case in Dumfriesshire but it is not known if it is linked to this particular cluster.
Last night, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf praised the communities affected by the continuing lockdown laws and said that many were being compliant.
He said residents in the east of Dumfriesshire appeared to be taking the situation ‘very seriously’ – and that police enforcement of restrictions would be used only as a ‘last resort’.
Mr Yousaf told a radio show: ‘The police will take the approach they have taken right throughout the pandemic, which is this common sense, proportionate response.
‘So you’re not going to see hundreds and hundreds of officers sent down to Annan and Gretna and so on and patrolling the streets to make sure nobody is going beyond the five-mile limit.’ He added that ‘the people of Scotland have been good’ at complying with the rules.
For all other parts of Scotland, the five-mile limit on travelling was lifted on Friday.
The outbreak in the south of Scotland is said to have been triggered by a health worker at a Carlisle hospital. Since then, there have been a total of 11 confirmed cases in the localised cluster.
Announcing the continuation of local lockdown restrictions last week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘The advice and guidance to people in the areas of Annan, Gretna, Dumfries, Lockerbie, Langholm and Canonbie is to continue to follow the five-mile travel restriction over the weekend until the testing and contact-tracing process has been completed and we are able to assess if the outbreak has indeed been contained.’
She said anyone planning to travel into these areas to visit or stay should also stick to the five-mile travel advice. Ms Sturgeon also urged business owners to be extra vigilant on hygiene measures. On Friday one of the people in the cluster who tested positive said they felt ‘vilified’, as it is thought the outbreak might have started because of people ignoring lockdown restrictions.
The woman, an NHS worker, insisted that her household had always acted in accordance with the lockdown rules.
Last week, National Clinical Adviser Professor Jason Leitch confirmed that 23 people who may have been in contact with an infected person had been contacted, offered Covid testing and instructed to self-isolate.
The incident management team in charge of managing the minioutbreak was scheduled to meet again yesterday.
‘Assess if the outbreak has been contained’