Football matches and public events in Lanarkshire and across Scotland will be limited to a maximum of 500 spectators until mid-January and hospitality venues will have to reintroduce distancing and table-only service under new measures to combat coronavirus.
Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement at the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, as she told MSPs that the Omicron variant of the virus “has now firmly established itself as the dominant strain”, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all cases in Scotland.
Existing Christmas plans can still go ahead and the First Minister reiterated that “it remains a priority” for schools to open as planned for the new term; but people are still being asked to limit social contact after the festive period, including for Hogmanay and new year celebrations.
The new limit of 500 people at an outdoor event, and respectively 100 and 200 for standing and seated indoor events, comes into effect on Boxing Day for up to three weeks.
Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood: “This will make sports matches effectively spectator-free, similar to Wales – and large-scale Hogmanay celebrations will not proceed.
“This difficult decision is necessary as large gatherings have the potential to become very large super-spreader events; this reduces the risk of widespread transmission and cuts down on the risk of travel to and from such events.
“Large-scale events also put pressure on emergency services when they’re already under pressure and dealing with high staff absences.”
Hospitality rules which come into effect on Monday, December 27, will see the requirement for table service only in pubs and venues selling alcohol, plus one-metre distancing between groups at indoor venues.
Ms Sturgeon also gave the reminder: “If people are attending such venues, there should be no more than three households in any one group.”
Non-professional indoor contact sports for adults should also not take place for three weeks from Sunday.
The First Minister said: “I’m not asking people to change Christmas plans, but please keep family celebrations as safe as possible and as small as circumstances allow.
“From December 27, as we come out of Christmas and until the end of the first week in January, please limit contacts as much as you can, stay at home as much as is feasible – and please follow this advice over new year and minimise Hogmanay socialising as much as possible.
“This is the bedrock of our plans for the immediate period ahead. None of these steps are being taken lightly but we consider them necessary.
“The obligation of the government is to take decisions to keep the country as safe as possible, no matter how unpopular they may be.”
She told how Omicron cases have increased by more than 50 per cent in the past week, with a reproduction or R number “well above 3”, and emphasised that this “underlines the importance of everyone getting booster jags as quickly as possible”.
Ms Sturgeon announced funding of £375 million to support businesses impacted by the latest measures; and said: “We must also act to slow down the spread of cases.
“The toll that a rising wave of infections will have on health and social care will be considerable, and the impact on the economy through sickness and isolation absence will be crippling.
“This is not a choice between protecting health and the economy – both will suffer. We’re already seeing the impact across the economy and know from experience that if we wait until data tells us we have a problem, it will be too late – we must get ahead of the data if we can.”
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