Aberdeen has woken up to its first full day of lockdown after tighter restrictions were imposed by the Scottish Government.
The streets of the Granite City were left completely empty as all bars and restaurants shut their doors at 5pm on Wednesday evening.
Nicola Sturgeon enforced Scotland’s first local lockdown after a spike in cases emerged in the city over the course of the week.
A five-mile travel ban and restrictions on the mixing of households are among the new rules put in place across the city.
Schools are still expected to reopen in the city from August 11 despite a significant rise in the number of cases.
Extra police have also been drafted into the city for additional patrols to ensure that people are following the rules.
NHS Grampian yesterday confirmed 54 positive cases of Covid-19, most of which are linked to an outbreak at the Hawthorn Bar in the city.
NHS Test and Protect has so far identified 191 close contacts, with that figure expected to rise in the coming days.
Each of those individuals has been ordered to self-isolate in a bid to prevent the virus from tightening its grip on Scotland again.
Lockdown restrictions will be in place in Aberdeen over the next seven days, but the First Minister warned that period could be extended if it is necessary.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus press briefing yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said: “The decisions are not being taken lightly but we are at a stage of this pandemic where strong action is necessary and sensible.
She added: The last thing we want to do is to reimpose these restrictions but this outbreak is reminding us just how highly infectious Covid is.
“Our precautionary and careful judgement is that we need to take decisive action now, difficult as that undoubtedly is, in order to try and contain this outbreak and prevent further harm later on.
“As I said earlier, this is about doing all we can to ensure our children can return to schools next week.”
