NICOLA Sturgeon has reassured Scotland’s children that Santa Claus will still be visiting Scottish houses on Christmas Eve despite strict Covid restrictions.

Speaking directly to children at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, the First Minister said Father Christmas would “not be prevented from delivering your presents on Christmas Eve”.

She added: “Santa is a key worker and he’s got lots of magic powers that make him safe to do that – so if he’s having to do grotto appearances by Zoom that’s to keep you safe, it’s not that Santa’s at any risk and he’ll be delivering presents across the world as normal.”

Much of the briefing was dominated by the festive season after Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch urged Scots to prepare for a “digital Christmas”.

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Asked what December 25 might look like this year, Leitch told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “It’s honestly too early to say.

“I’m worried first about Halloween and November 5 – and then we may turn our minds to Christmas.

“I’m hopeful costs now may get us a more family Christmas – but Christmas is not going to be normal. There’s actually no question about that.

“We’re not going to have large family groupings with multiple families around, that is fiction for this year.

“I am hopeful, if we can get the numbers down to a certain level, we may be able to get some form of normality.

“People should get their digital Christmas ready.”

Asked about the comments, Sturgeon said Leitch wanted “to be frank with people”, adding he had tried to “not prematurely rule things out, but equally not to give people false assurances”.

She said: “I want us to be able to celebrate Christmas as normally as it is possible to do within the context of a global pandemic.

“My message to people is that the more we all stick with these really difficult restrictions right now, the more chance there will be of us doing that.

“Some of the really tough, additional things that government is deciding on right now – restrictions on hospitality for example – and any other restrictions we feel necessary to put in place will also be in part about trying to deal decisively with an upsurge in the virus now so we give ourselves the best chance of greater normality at Christmas.”

The First Minister said Christmas across the world was going to be different this year.

She said: “Christmas this year for no country anywhere is going to be absolutely normal and without any restrictions. I could do what politicians would do in normal times and try to tell you otherwise, and let people down nearer the time, but that’s not the right approach right now.

“We are not likely to be able to celebrate Christmas with no limits on how many people we have in our homes and on what we do.”

She said that the “best chance of getting as much normality over the Christmas period as possible is for all of us to abide by these restrictions and all the guidance right now”.

Leitch’s comments concerned Age Scotland. They said: “We’re sure he didn’t mean to exclude anyone, but a huge number of older people don’t have the option for a ‘digital Christmas’ as they live without access to a smartphone, tablet or the internet.”

READ MORE: Scottish Government to increase Covid testing capacity as cases rise

Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader described Leitch’s intervention as “tone deaf”. He tweeted: “Thousands of Scots struggling and face a miserable Dickensian Christmas after months of lockdown.

“Not everyone has unlimited digital access.

“The real ‘fiction’ is @Scotgov is handling the pandemic well.”

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said people would “be devastated to hear that Christmas as they know it is cancelled this year”.

He added: “Many will rightly question whether the Government has used the past six months as well as they could have to expand testing, shore up our NHS and prepare for a second wave.”

Meanwhile, Sturgeon also suggested that children should avoid going guising or trick or treating during Halloween this year because it was unsafe for people to have unnecessary contact with others.

The Scottish Government is to issue guidance for Halloween over the weekend and urged families to devise different ways of celebrating.