Scotland is seeing an increase in positive coronavirus cases among 20 to 40 year olds, Nicola Sturgeon said today as the issue of pubs and the growing Aberdeen outbreak continues to dominate the news.
The First Minister was asked about 17 new cases in the Greater Glasgow area too, although information on the demographic of those people is not yet available.
The FM spoke about socialising as “one of our biggest risk areas” and answered questions on whether pub crawls, where drinkers move from one bar to another in succession, could be banned.
Speaking at today’s daily briefing, Sturgeon said: “Generally speaking, we are seeing an increasingly proportion of positive cases being in a relatively young age group, 20-40.
“I’ve had people on social media say you sound as if you’re blaming young people - I want to be clear that I’m not blaming anybody. It’s not anybody’s fault that we’re dealing with this virus but I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t point out the trends.
“It would be perfectly understandable, I’m not judging, that since pubs have opened after four months of not being able to, you want to social and see friends a bit more. But what the data is telling us is that it’s becoming one of our biggest risk areas, it’s incumbent on me to say to people: remember you’ve got to follow all this advice because you’re not immune.
“I know how important it is for all of us to follow this advice or we will end up back in a situation that none of us want to be in.”
On the subject of ‘pub crawls’ and the links between the Covid-19 cluster in Aberdeen and more than 20 licensed premises, the FM said she is ‘very concerned’ about the spread of a virus that is still “highly infectious”.
As reported on Glasgow Live, another bar here in Glasgow has reported a coronavirus case, warning customers that a punter has tested positive after returning from holiday and heading to The Swinton in Baillieston.
Sturgeon added: "We are looking at whether we need to tighten up the guidance and the regulations around hospitality. That could include some things that are currently guidance and giving them the backing of law."
Chief Medical Officer Gregor Smith also addressed the issue, adding: “Although we are seeing a strong signal for younger age groups testing positive, another thing that’s important to say is it’s not solely younger age groups. The age range in Scotland and around the UK still involves older people as well.
“We know from experience over the last few months they are more at risk. I don’t want people to think that more younger people testing positive for the virus means that this is being drive by the younger population. It’s just a changing demographic we’re starting to see more strongly.”
For all the updates on today's coronavirus briefing, follow our rolling news blog.
