First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced further strengthening of lockdown measures in Scotland to prevent the spread of coronovirus infection. All non-essential stores will no longer be able to operate under the ‘click-and-collect’ system, a service that allows online shopping and in-store pick-up, but only by appointment, while bars and restaurants are offered a take. Must provide – Product service allows customers to enter the premises without.

Also, starting on Saturday, public consumption of alcohol will be outlawed in all ‘red zones’, companies will be obliged, where possible, to employ their employees from home and only in homes’. Necessary ‘repair work will be allowed’ by plumbers, brickmakers or electricians. Current regulations will also be revised, so that Scots are forced to live inside their homes, unless there are “necessary” reasons.

Sturgeon told Scottish MPs, “The cases are still very high and the new variant is so contagious that we need to be as difficult and effective as possible to prevent it from spreading.” The new version of the virus, the First Minister said, now accounts for 60 per cent of infections in Scotland. The new measures, he said, are “an essential means to an end”.