First Minister warns coronavirus restrictions 'highly unlikely' to change

The First Minister has said it’s “highly unlikely” coronavirus restrictions will be significantly loosened when they’re reviewed this week.

Nicola Sturgeon will announce the results of the first review of the new five-tier system of measures at Holyrood on Tuesday following a Cabinet meeting, with any changes taking effect from Friday.

Speaking during the Scottish Government's media briefing in Edinburgh on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said it is “highly unlikely that we will see any significant easing of restrictions”.

One death from coronavirus and 912 positive tests have been recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll under this measure - of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days - to 3,040.

The central belt of Scotland is currently in Level 3 of the measures, along with Dundee and Ayrshire, with other parts of the country in Levels 1 and 2. There are no areas in the lowest and highest levels.

When the new measures were announced, Ms Sturgeon suggested some areas – “East Lothian in particular and possibly Edinburgh” - could move down a level “reasonably soon” while the situation in Lanarkshire, where there was a high level of cases, would be kept under review.

On Monday, she said she is “not be expecting areas to go down a level” but “we are obviously looking at whether there is any case for any part of the country to go up a level”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The number of new cases was rising pretty steeply in the first half of October but that has now pretty much levelled off.

“We are in a far better position than we would have been without the current restrictions in place.”

She added it is “really important we start to see these translate into a significant and sustained decline in Covid cases”.

The First Minister said: We cannot be sure we are yet seeing that and, while no decisions have been taken, I think it is highly unlikely that we will see any significant easing of restrictions announced tomorrow.

“While a plateauing of cases is undoubtedly better than a rise of cases, we can't afford cases simply to plateau at their current quite high level.

“We need them to fall, otherwise we will be badly exposed to any further rise in cases as we go deeper into winter.

“And we know that a further rise is entirely possible, we can see that by looking across Europe and the world right now.”

The First Minister also welcomed “good news” about a potential coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech have announced a jab has been found to be more than 90% effective against Covid-19.

“This is news that should give us some tentative hope today and, let's be honest, all of us could do with that,” Ms Sturgeon said.

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