Nicola Sturgeon has warned she will have to act “quickly and decisively in the national interest” as she confirmed the Scottish Government is to meet on Monday to discuss further lockdown measures to stop the spread of Covid-19.
A series of tweets from the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday morning raised fears that schools in Scotland may remain closed for the whole of January.
In an online post the First Minister said the rapid increase in Covid cases driven by the new variant is of "very serious concern".
She stated: “The steep increases and severe NHS pressure being experienced in other parts of the UK is a sign of what may lie ahead. So we must take all steps to slow spread while vaccination progresses.
“We, like other countries, are in a race between this faster spreading strain of Covid and the vaccination programme.
“As we work to vaccinate as quickly as possible, we must also do more to slow down the virus – to save lives and help the NHS care for all those who need it.”
The Scottish government is coming under the same pressures as Prime Minister Boris Johnson to reconsider the opening of schools this month.
Schools in Scotland plan to fully open on January 18 but that is subject to daily assessments of the pandemic and the new variant.
The First Minister moved as Johnson also signalled that tougher restrictions to deal with the coronavirus crisis could be on the way in England the next few weeks.
Johnson said he was “fully reconciled” to a tightening of the anti-Covid measures but he insisted schools in England were "safe" to open.
In a series of additional tweets Nicola Sturgeon detailed the action the Scottish Government will take on Monday.
She stated: “Following a meeting of the Scottish Government resilience committee yesterday to assess latest situation, the Cabinet will meet tomorrow am to consider further action to limit spread and I’ve asked for Scottish Parliament to be recalled tomorrow afternoon so that I can set out our decisions in a statement.”
Sturgeon added: “All decisions just now are tough, with tough impacts. Vaccines give us way out, but this new strain makes the period between now and then the most dangerous since start of pandemic.
“So the responsibility of government must be to act quickly and decisively in the national interest.”
