NICOLA Sturgeon has said she bitterly regrets not being able to offer NHS staff any flexibility over the Christmas loosening of coronavirus restrictions.
The First Minister was asked about the possibility during today's First Minister’s Questions, with LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton raising the case of two doctors working on the frontline of the NHS for four of the five days of lockdown relaxation.
He said his constituents had hoped to visit elderly relatives in Northern Ireland on December 29 and to stay the New Year.
“We are repeatedly told that Covid isn't taking Christmas off. Well, nor are doctors, ICU nurses, police officers or soldiers. So can I ask the First Minister, if her government will allow those working on the front line this Christmas, the opportunity to take their five days slightly later so that they can have some of the comfort and joy that is being offered to the rest of the nation?”
Sturgeon said she wished she could but was unable to do so. The restrictions had, she said, been agreed by all governments across the UK.
She told MSPs: “If we allowed different parts of the population to interact at different times, we are creating a bigger risk of the virus transmitting more rapidly and that's why we cannot design these flexibilities - which we are encouraging people only to use if absolutely necessary anyway - in a bespoke way taking account of individual circumstances.”
The First Minister added: “I deeply and bitterly regret that. I really, really do. What I would say is that part of the motivation for trying to keep things as tight as possible is for the sake of those working on the frontline of our NHS, because they bear the brunt if Covid cases, start to rise".
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