Nicola Sturgeon is facing a backlash for keeping Glasgow under Level 3 Covid restrictions
The First Minister has confirmed that the city would stay under the top tier lockdown conditions until at least Saturday June 5
Glasgow is to remain in the UK’s highest level of lockdown for another week and will lag behind the rest of Scotland as restrictions are eased further, Nicola Sturgeon said today as she faced a furious business backlash.
The First Minister told a Covid-19 briefing that while case numbers in the city are uncomfortably high and that the so-called Indian variant now accounted for at least half of these, there are signs both positive tests and the rate of people in hospital with the virus are stabilising.
“Glasgow has been under Covid restrictions for more than 250 days and people are waiting to hear what progress is even necessary to start lifting the current restrictions,” he said.
However Ms Sturgeon said: “I know how difficult it is for residents and businesses across Glasgow but I also know how dangerous it would be if we eased restrictions too quickly and allowed a new variant of this virus, that we know is spreading perhaps even more quickly than the variant at the start of the year, to take a grip again. That s why there are the public health interventions under way across Glasgow right now. I said earlier in the week we see cautious signs for optimism that that is working, and we will continue to monitor that very carefully.