Police in Scotland are to be given new powers of enforcement to break up and disperse large gatherings to tackle the risks posed by house parties on the spread of coronavirus.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the news in Parliament this afternoon during the latest lockdown review - which confirmed that Scotland will remain in phase three for at least a further three weeks.
The First Minister said that the new powers, which are set to come in to force as of next Friday (August 28), will only be used in cases of 'flagrant breach' and as a 'last resort'.
She said: "We know from reports from our own Test and Protect teams and we also know from evidence from other places in the UK and indeed around the world that these indoor events pose a major, a very significant transmission risk, and because the virus is so infectious, if it is present at an event like this, there is a very high likelihood that most people at the event get the virus.
"That is why we advise strict limits on indoor gatherings. Right now our advice is that no more than eight people from a maximum of three different households should be gathering indoors.
"The vast majority of people i know will be sticking to this and it is not easy to do so, so I'm very grateful for that, but we also know that a minority don't and we know that large house parties pose a very real and significant risk of causing clusters and outbreaks such as some of these we've been dealing with in recent days.
"So for use in cases of flagrant breach and as a last resort we intend to give the police powers of enforcement to break up and disperse large indoor gatherings."
