MUCH of central Scotland is likely to be placed into lockdown this week, a leaked briefing provided to business chiefs has revealed.
The tough new rules are expected to be in force in 12 local authority areas for around two weeks from Friday.
The Scottish Daily Mail reported that business leaders were told "it is likely/probable that on Tuesday the First Minister will say that a number of Scottish local authorities will be put into Level 4 of the Covid strategic framework".
The areas affected will be Glasgow, the three Ayrshire councils, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, West and East Dunbartonshire, North and South Lanarkshire, Inverclyde and Stirling, the paper said.
READ MORE: 'Stubbornly high' coronavirus rates fuel speculation of Scottish lockdown
Cases in Glasgow were up by 7% last week. West Dunbartonshire was up 6%, while East Dunbartonshire saw a rise of 4%.
In East Renfrewshire cases jumped by 13%.
The details were reportedly revealed in two private briefings with trade bodies.
Under level four, non-essential outlets such as bars, cafes and most shops would be forced to close.
However supermarkets would remain open.
READ MORE: Covid: Nicola Sturgeon responds to speculation about Level 4 restrictions
John Swinney hinted yesterday that ministers were set to place parts of the country into a level 4 lockdown on Tuesday in a bid to "suppress the virus and give us as much control as we possibly can do before we go into the more acute period of winter”.
While the deputy first minister said that placing these council areas into the strictest set of restrictions was “not inevitable”, he made clear that the government needed to do more to “suppress the virus and give us as much control as we possibly can” ahead of winter.
Swinney said: “The government has been anxious to avoid putting local authorities into level 4 restrictions because obviously we're conscious of the multiple issues that will raise for individual local authority areas, but we are seeing the levels of the virus being stubbornly high in some areas but the level 3 restrictions are not really bringing them down by the type of levels that we would like to see.”
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