Scottish Cabinet to consider further lockdown measures

The Scottish Government is to meet this morning to discuss further lockdown measures in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Nicola Sturgeon asked for Scottish Parliament to be recalled to outline the new decisions in an “urgent statement” on Monday afternoon.

The Cabinet is expected to discuss any additional measures that may be required to fight the surge in new cases – including the possibility of keeping schools closed.

The First Minister announced the decision to recall Parliament on Twitter on Sunday morning.

She said the move was due to “a rapid increase in Covid cases” which is causing “very serious concerns”.

The decision came after Scotland recorded an increase of 2464 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours.

1/5 The rapid increase in Covid cases, driven by the new variant, is of v serious concern. The steep increases & 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
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 3, 2021

Sturgeon wrote: “Following a meeting of the Scottish Government resilience committee yesterday to assess latest situation, the Cabinet will meet tomorrow morning 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.

“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 the start of the pandemic.

“So the responsibility of government must be to act quickly and decisively in the national interest.”