Covid in Scotland: New restrictions this week

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Mr Ross says it is crucial the governments support people who cannot work due to the virus.

The Scottish Conservative leader points out the UK government has come up with schemes to help support people through the pandemic and says support must continue.

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Mr Ross says it is right that a virus that doesn't respect borders is tackled by the UK and Scottish governments in the most effective way possible.

The Scottish Conservative leader points out there have been four-nations meetings throughout the weekend, chaired by Michael Gove.

He confirms the prime minister and first minister will speak later on this afternoon and there will be a Cobra meeting later this week.

Mr Ross stresses it is right that the governments work together to tackle this and a joined up approach is taken.

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Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, says what we have heard in Scotland and at UK level is an increase in infection rates of coronavirus.

Mr Ross points out the rate is doubling every week and the projections show where we will get to if action is not taken.

He says these are stark warnings from the experts.

Mr Ross agrees with England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty who earlier said this is everyone's problem.

"We have to fight this and tackle this together."

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Katie Hunter of BBC Scotland asks the first minister what restrictions she is looking at most closely and about weekend reports that exams may be cancelled again next year due to the pandemic.

Nicola Sturgeon says she does not want to speculate regarding what decisions will be announced in the next 48 hours.

The first minister says hospitality is being looked at closely as well as household gatherings.

She adds her clear objective is to drive down the R number and keep schools open.

On the issues of exams, she says: "We want the exams diet to go ahead as normal or as close to normal as possible next year.

"All of us want that but every day right now is a reminder that we are in a highly volatile, unpredictable situation."

She adds any responsible government must have contingencies in place.

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Professor Linda Bauld speculates we might get clearer guidance for older family members and we may not be able to have the same level of interaction as we have of late.

The Edinburgh University public health professor is "pretty confident" there will be curfews, with restrictions on opening hours for hospitality.

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Remember you can watch the briefing in its entirety on the BBC Scotland Channel.

Meanwhile on BBC One Scotland Linda Bauld, the professor of public health at Edinburgh University, says we have seen "really worrying data" released, not just by the first minister but confirmed also at a UK level.

Prof Bauld adds the rise in case numbers shot up to 6,000 per day in England, which when extrapolated to the entire UK is 70,000 people who have the virus at the moment.

"We are definitely in a very serious place."

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Scotland's interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith says the number of cases is increasing in all four home nations.

He adds: "The pattern of transmission is changing too, from localised hotspots of infection to a more generalised epidemic."

Dr Smith warns that at the end of the last week the number of cases were rising in 24 of Scotland's 32 local authorities.

And he says this proportion will continue to increase "unless further steps are taken".

He adds that while the majority of cases involve age groups under 60, experts are starting to see a shift in the proportion of over-60s who are infected - about one in seven of new cases.

Dr Smith cautions that younger people can suffer profound and limiting symptoms for months after, so-called Long Covid.

He says the R number in Scotland is now likely to be between 0.9 and 1.4 and notes the cycle of the disease means deaths tend to occur two to three weeks after people contract the disease.

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Scotland's national clinical director Prof Jason Leitch says it is now nine months since the World Health Organisation took the rare step of declaring a global pandemic.

He adds: "We cannot live with this disease without population restrictions."

Prof Leitch says 31 million people have tested positive globally for Covid-19 and 960,000 people have died.

And on Saturday alone, 300,000 positive tests and 4,000 deaths were registered worldwide.

On the same day, a European record of 68,000 cases were confirmed, with France (13,000) and Spain (14,000) registering their highest number of daily cases.

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Ms Sturgeon explains she will consider whether children under 12 years old will be exempted from the current two household rule in the wider context of the more fundamental changes this week.

This will now be covered in the statement to parliament later in the week.

The first minister ends by stressing: "This is a serious moment again for the country."

She points out the new measures will be about controlling the virus while avoiding a full lockdown.

"Think carefully about what you can do as an individual to play your part in this collective action that we need to take."

She calls on people to work from home, download the Protect Scotland App and follow the guidance.

Ms Sturgeon stresses again people must follow the five pieces of advice in FACTS: They are:

• Face coverings in enclosed spaces
• Avoid crowded places
• Clean hands and surfaces regularly
• Two metre distancing; and
• Self-isolate and book a test if you have symptoms

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The Scottish government's package of measures will include plans to better support people who are being advised to self-isolate.

The first minister is also considering whether imposing large fines, as announced in England, is appropriate.

There is a concern about potential disincentives to getting tested that fines might pose, she says.

"We will be putting in place a financial support package to help people if they are forced to self-isolate."

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Ms Sturgeon tells the briefing: "We are preparing to introduce a package of additional measures with the intention of bringing the R number back below one."

"Ideally, at least some of these decisions will be taken on a four-nation basis across the UK," adds the first minister.

Some decisions will not be entirely identical but alignment does make sense, she points out.

Ms Sturgeon says she has repeatedly called for an urgent Cobra meeting and that has been confirmed during a call with UK government minister Michael Gove on Saturday.

It is frustrating that a time for the Cobra meeting has not yet been set, she says.

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Ms Sturgeon reminds people of the reduction in the maximum size of household gatherings to six people from two households.

"In my view, further and urgent action will now be needed to stop the increase in the number of cases."

The Scottish government is very close to a decision on this, she adds.

The first minister warns that the longer we wait to introduce these measures, the longer they are likely to be in place.

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The first minister points out new cases are happening across Scotland and "we must take all of this very seriously".

Ms Sturgeon says we are not seeing as much of an increase in hospitalisation as we saw in the Spring, however it will increasingly affect old people.

The number of people in hospital and intensive care is rising, she says.

"Unfortunately we will also see the number of people dying increasing too."

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The first minister refers to England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty and the UK's scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance who have just finished their briefing.

"We would endorse the overall message that was being conveyed," says Ms Sturgeon.

In Scotland and across the UK the R number is again above one and when that happens "we know the virus will spread again".

The percentage of those newly tested who are positive has risen from 5% over the weekend to 6.3% .

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The first minister points out: "Covid is spreading again in Scotland."

Ms Sturgeon says, thanks to our collective efforts over the summer, we are in a stronger position than we would otherwise be.

"We collectively saved a lot of lives."

However, doing nothing in the face of this quite rapid spread of the virus is not an option, she adds.