Nicola Sturgeon has said that a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown is not currently being considered and is purely “speculation in the media”.
The announcement came in the emergency briefing she gave today, as Covid-19 cases in Scotland rise to become the highest in Europe with four people dying in the past 24 hours.
"We can’t and shouldn’t rule anything out in the midst of a pandemic, none of us want to go backwards to even limited restrictions”, Sturgeon said at the lunchtime briefing.
"But we cannot ignore the current surge in cases either. My job in times like these is not to be popular - it is to take any decisions, no matter how difficult, that are necessary to keep us safe."
"In particular, we are currently watching closely to see whether – and to what extent – we might start to see significant increase in serious illness.
"I will continue to keep you updated in the days ahead. Though I want to be clear that some of the speculation you might be reading in the media just now is not accurate - for example, we are not currently considering a circuit breaker lockdown."
The First Minister did warn, however, that more new cases have been reported in Scotland “than at any previous time during the pandemic”. Around a third of new cases are among people who have been vaccinated.
Since the start of the pandemic, Scotland has seen 8,103 deaths from people returning a positive Covid test.
In order to lower levels and avoid the need for another lockdown, Sturgeon emphasised the need for caution:
"For the moment, though, I do need to stress the vital importance of everyone playing their part in limiting the spread of the virus. The more we all do this, the more chance we have of avoiding the need to re-impose any formal restrictions."
