ABERDEEN'S coronavirus lockdown in Aberdeen will be extended for another week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

But the decision to keep restrictions in place has angered the local city council, who say the situation is under control.

The local lockdown was put in place at the start of the month after a spike in positive cases linked to the city's nightlife. 

Pubs and restaurants are shut, and Aberdonians have been told not to travel more than five miles for leisure or holidays.

Indoor visits with other households have also been banned.

Speaking at the Scottish Government's daily coronavirus briefing, Sturgeon said 15 of the 50 new cases in Scotland on Wednesday were in the Grampian area.

There have now been 398 cases since 26 July in Grampian, 226 of which have been associated with the Aberdeen cluster.

The SNP leader also announced a £1m support fund for Aberdeen, with grants of up to £1,500 available for hospitality businesses.

The First Minister said while the situation in Aberdeen is "undoubtedly improving" she is not "in a position to say that this outbreak is over or completely under control".

Sturgeon said the outbreak is "by some distance the most significant outbreak" Scotland had seen since lockdown measures were eased.

The First Minister stressed measures to tackle the outbreak in the area are having an impact, with "some evidence that the original cluster linked with bars and nightlife is being contained".

But she added: "We are also continuing to see a number of individual cases and other smaller clusters in the city.

"That is not necessarily unusual for an outbreak of this scale but it is something we must monitor very carefully because these cases don't appear to be linked to the original outbreak."

While she acknowledged it is "disappointing" the restrictions in the area cannot be lifted, Sturgeon said "moving too quickly" could risk the progress that has been made.

But Aberdeen council chief, Jenny Laing said the situation was "now under adequate control".

In a statement released just 15 minutes before the First Minister's briefing, Laing, leader of the city's ruling Aberdeen Labour-Tory coalition, said: “At our meeting with Scottish Government officials yesterday we heard from the local Covid-19 Outbreak Incident Management Team that they believed the situation is now under adequate control and mitigation measures can be put in place to allow lower risk settings to open on Saturday 22nd August subject to site specific assessments.

She added: “It is apparent that Covid-19 has already had a significant impact on our local economy and continuing with the current restrictions is only going to make a bad economic situation even worse.

“The perception and reputation of Aberdeen is being damaged the longer this goes on and as the Incident Management Team has shown with proper safeguards in place Aberdeen can and should be allowed to begin lifting the restrictions on Saturday.”

Her Tory coalition partner Douglas Lumsden said 5,100 city jobs at 70 businesses were at risk of redundancy.

David Groundwater, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said the news would be a "bitter blow to cafes, restaurants and pubs across the city – as well as businesses in the wider economy."

But he welcomed the new financial support package.

He said: “It’s a relief that the First Minister has listened to our calls for financial support for businesses hit by the restrictions. It’s also welcome that some of this support will go to those who are still open, but whose income has been decimated by the lockdown – such as those in the hospitality supply chain. We need to get them all to the other side."