The First Minister was quizzed on why West Dunbartonshire was placed in the strictest tier despite cases falling.
Jackie Baille MSP asked Nicola Sturgeon to explain the basis for placing the region in tier four after being contacted by constituents.
She says that in the week prior to the decision, there was a 35 per cent fall in the number of positive cases in West Dunbartonshire. Ms Baillie pointed out that a 25 percent drop in cases in the week before November was much greater than the nine percent Scotland-wide drop at the time.
Clackmannanshire local authority saw an increase in cases of 64 per cent – yet the area was kept in tier three.
It was confirmed during a meeting of West Dunbartonshire’s health and social care partnership last week that the most recent figures show there are 122 positive cases per 100,000 of population, far lower than the Greater Glasgow and Clyde figure of 188 per 100,000, and a fall on the highest level in West Dunbartonshire of 220 per 100,000.
The Dumbarton MSP said: “Tier four restrictions are having a devastating impact on almost every aspect of our community.
“People’s mental health and wellbeing are taking a knock, businesses are struggling to make ends meet, and families and loved ones are going weeks without any interaction.
Responding to Ms Baillie at Holyrood, the First Minister explained that the decision was based on a “balance of factors”.
She said: “We take account of the indicators that we set out publicly, which are about case numbers, test positivity and pressure on hospital and intensive care unit services.
“ We also have to make judgments about the direction of travel: whether the position in a particular area is coming down fast enough and whether it remains significantly above the national average.
“It was a judgment about that balance of factors that led to the area that Jackie Baillie’s constituency is in being put into level 4. We will look at the direction of travel as we make decisions on what level each area will go into after 11 December.”
