Nicola Sturgeon has put a pause on plans to ease Covid restrictions in much of Scotland – as she insisted the country was still at a “delicate and fragile point” in the battle with the virus.
In an announcement she described as a “mixed bag”, the Scottish First Minister confirmed that Glasgow, which had been under the strictest restrictions in all of Scotland, will see these relaxed somewhat, with the city moving to Level 2 from Saturday.
On that date many island communities will move to Level 0 – the lowest level there is under the Scotland’s five tier system – while 15 council areas will step down to Level 1.
But there are 13 local authority areas, including Edinburgh, Dundee and Stirling, that will remain in Level 2 for the time being.
It had been hoped that most of Scotland would be able to move to Level 1 and the First Minister’s announcement means businesses in some areas, such as soft play centres, will not be able to reopen as planned.
Support will be provided for such companies, Ms Sturgeon said, with Finance Secretary Kate Forbes expected to set out more details of this on Wednesday.
Confirming the changes to MSPs at Holyrood, the First Minister said Scotland was “currently at a delicate and fragile point in what we hope is a transition to a different way of dealing with this virus”.
She stated: “We believe that vaccinations are opening the path to a less restrictive way of dealing with Covid – one less driven by case numbers.
“But because not all adults have been fully vaccinated with two doses so far, we are not quite there yet.”
From Saturday 5 June, new #coronavirus protection levels will apply to most local authority areas across Scotland.
Make sure you know what the rules will be in your area ⬇— Scottish Government (@scotgov) June 1, 2021
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The latest figures show than almost three quarters (72 per cent) of adults have had their first vaccine, with less than half (46 per cent) having now received both doses.
As a result Ms Sturgeon said the country was “in a transition phase”, adding that “vaccines make the outlook positive, but the new variant means the road ahead is still potentially bumpy”.
While she said that “vaccines are changing the game”, she also stressed that for the moment “caution is necessary”.
But with the number of people who are vaccinated growing, the First Minister said: “We can still be optimistic, very optimistic, about our chances of much more normality over the summer and beyond.”
The moving of 15 council areas to Level 1 restrictions from Saturday will allow people to gather indoors and outdoors in larger groups, with the numbers allowed at weddings and funerals also increasing, while pubs can open slightly later indoors.
Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, said that “for many in those parts of Scotland that were expecting to move down a level this news will come as a bitter blow”.
Both he and Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, welcomed the move to Level 2 for Glasgow – which will allow people to hug each other and visit friends and family in their homes for the first time since August, with pubs and restaurants also now allowed to sell alcohol indoors.
Mr Ross said the announcement would “bring to an end 277 days of our largest city living under some of the toughest restrictions”, but added for other areas it was a “disappointing setback”.
The Tory said: “Half of the country will move forward while the rest remains stuck in limbo, with no clear idea when the stictions will ease.
“We understand the need for caution, but we also believe more emphasis needs to be placed on the impact of these restrictions on businesses, on jobs, and on people’s mental and physical health.”
Mr Ross argued ministers should be taking a more localised approach with “targeted interventions to tackle local outbreaks instead of sweeping measures”.
He insisted: “The approach of council wide measures is now out of date, it was designed before we had an effective, successful vaccination scheme.”
But Ms Sturgeon told him: “We are taking all of the different factors into account, not least the progress with vaccination.”
She said if the decisions were based purely on public health advice “we would simply have held the whole of the country in the levels they are at right now” – adding that the raw figures indicated some areas should have even stricter restrictions imposed.
And she stated that with less than half of all adults having had both vaccine doses, the country was still “vulnerable to this new, faster spreading variant”.
The First Minister said: “That is why we need to be cautious.”
While she said the Level 2 restrictions, which will be in place in 14 council areas from Saturday, were “still tough” she also insisted it was “not lockdown”.
Ms Sturgeon added: “We can go into each other’s homes, we can see hospitality open, stay open indoors, so there are significant steps there.”
