Page 130 - Level Zero News Today

Scotland will today find out if its remaining major coronavirus restrictions can be lifted on August 9 as Nicola Sturgeon announces her decision on the nations next step out of lockdown.  The First Minister will deliver a statement this afternoon to the Scottish Parliament in which she will set out whether Scotland will be able to move beyond the current Level Zero rules. The SNP leader set the August 9 target date back in June before the country moved to the lowest tier of curbs on July 19 w...

Nearly a third of Scottish SMEs with growth ambitions for the coming year say their plans will be hampered by a lack of access to skilled staff, according to a new survey out today. The figures from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) come amid rising concerns that the “pingdemic” is exacerbating labour shortages caused by the outflow of EU workers in the wake of Brexit. It is feared this will hinder economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, with London’s Metropolitan line...

PREMIUM Official testing figures have shown a steady rise in Covid cases in Scotland over the past two weeks - but random surveillance based on wastewater testing and household swabs suggests increases in infections may simply be going undetected THE true scale of Covid infections in Scotland is probably being under-reported by official figures according to a report which warns that virus prevalence in recent wastewater sampling “significantly exceeded levels suggested by case rates”. N...

BIG READ The roadmap out of lockdown envisaged that "all" adults would have had a first vaccine dose by July 18, the day before Scotland enters Level Zero. More than one in five adults aged 18 to 49 are still unvaccinated IF vaccination is our best route out of the coronavirus pandemic, what can and should we do if uptake is stalling among the young? In France, a nation known for its vaccine hesitancy, more than 20,000 people a minute - record-breaking numbers - were booking appointments th...

The noble lord is very- familiar with the approach that were taking to - addressing online harms, which we hope will be really. comprehensive and effective. i will take his suggestion back to the department, | but i cant reassure him i today at the dispatch box whether we can progress it. lady barran. youre watching tuesday in parliament with me, david cornock. scotland will ease covid restrictions from next week but more cautiously than england. mandatory use of face coverings will remain in pl...

The next stage to ending lockdown, which will include the lifting of face mask requirements in England from July 19, will be key for retailers By Kristy Dorsey UK retail sales clocked up the strongest quarterly growth on record during the three months to June as the sector continued to bounce back from the severest of lockdown restrictions. The figures from the monthly retail sales monitor produced by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and accountancy group KPMG showed that while growth ...

Back to school: Scottish Labour call for NYC-style ventilation checks and teachers to get booster jags Teachers and school staff should be at the front of the queue for any booster vaccinations, Scottish Labour has said. July 12, 2021, 12:01 am Teachers and school staff should be at the front of the queue for any booster vaccinations, Scottish Labour has said. With less than four weeks to go before the start of term, the party has criticised the Scottish Government for failing to communicate c...

PREMIUM Construction typically employs a high proportion of EU workers, and also currently has one of the highest levels of vacancies While widespread reports of acute staff shortages across sectors such as hospitality, construction, logistics and more have raised concerns about economic recovery, new research from Capital Economics has suggested that most of these shortfalls should prove temporary. The monthly jobs report released last week by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (...

PREMIUM Epidemiologists cautioned that there is still considerable uncertainty about how infections and hospitalisations will pan out over the coming weeks, with a wide gulf between their worse and better forecasts CORONAVIRUS infections could surge to more than 100,000 per week by mid-July according to a worst-case scenario modelled by scientists for the Scottish Government. The pessimistic forecast - which was drawn up by epidemiologists before daily infections hit an all-time high of more ...

Freedom. That was the overarching message this week as governments at Holyrood and Westminster set out their respective timetables out of the…