East Renfrewshire lockdown restrictions to be extended until mid-February

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament yesterday that Covid-19 numbers have “stabilised and even declined” but said any relaxation of lockdown while cases remain high could “quickly send the situation into reverse.”

She added: “That means that the lockdown restrictions, including the strict stay-at-home requirement, will remain in place across mainland Scotland and some island communities until at least the middle of February.

“The Cabinet decided today that, except for vulnerable and key worker children, school and nursery premises will remain closed until mid-February.”

The situation will be reviewed on February 2, the First Minister said.

She added: “If it is at all possible, as I very much hope it will be, to begin even a phased return to in-school learning in mid-February, we will.”

East Renfrewshire was placed into lockdown on January 4 in a bid to tackle the rising spread of a new coronavirus strain.

All non-essential shops, pubs, cafes, bars, gyms and hairdressers in the area will remain closed and travel restrictions prevent anyone leaving the council area, with limited exceptions.

Schools were initially meant to emerge from the second lockdown on February 1.

Giving an update on vaccination numbers, Ms Sturgeon said that, assuming supplies meet expectations, Scotland will be “on track to be vaccinating 400,000 people a week by the end of February.”

She said more than 90% of care home residents, 70% of care home staff and 70% of all frontline health and care workers have received their first dose of a vaccine.

“That means that, in around three months’ time, around three million people in total will have received at least the first dose of the vaccine,” she added.

“This is, of course, the majority of the adult population and includes everyone over the age of 50 and many younger people with an underlying health condition.”