Nicola Sturgeon will update hospitality businesses across the central belt of Scotland today on whether they can expect to reopen next week.
Temporary restrictions introduced earlier this month called on all pubs, bars and restaurants across five health board areas to close for a 16 day period in an attempt to halt the rising number of Covid cases north of the Border.
Unlicensed cafes were allowed to remain open but must shut by 6pm, while pubs elsewhere in Scotland were told they could only serve alcohol in outdoor seating areas.
The restrictions were due to end next Monday but the First Minister has hinted they could be extended until the end of October, when a new local lockdown framework is due to be implemented.
Members of the Scottish Government's Cabinet will meet this morning to decide whether the restrictions on hospitality should be extended further.
The First Minister set out the timeline for the decisions yesterday, as she announced 15 coronavirus deaths and 1,456 positive cases were recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours.
She told the briefing the new measures in the tiered framework, if approved by MSPs, will come into effect on November 2 – aligning with the UK Government’s new furlough scheme.
Sturgeon said: “What that means is over the course of next week we will be assessing the up to date data and assessing whether all of the country would go into a certain level of the new framework or whether parts of the country would go into one level and other parts of the country into another.
“As part of that we will be considering, of course, whether there are parts of the country that need tougher restrictions than those in place in the central belt right now, or whether there are parts of the country that might be able to have less tough restrictions.
“We need to assess that on the basis of the up to date data.”
The First Minister said she hopes a “reasonable degree of cross-party consensus” will be reached before the framework is debated.
She added: “In publishing the outline framework later this week, I would also intend to then have a few days where there are comments made on that and we might tweak it ahead of the parliamentary debate to take account of any obvious points that people wanted to be rectified.”
Ms Sturgeon said flexibility will also be important in the framework, adding: “It’s important we get it as right as possible.
“It’s equally important, given what we’re dealing with, that we don’t become an absolute prisoner of any framework because we need to retain a degree of flexibility.”
Under the temporary restrictions, bars and licensed restaurants in five health board areas – Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley – have been forced to close for all but takeaway services.
