FAST food and takeaway chains such as McDonald's and Burger King may have to stop selling takeways amid new restrictions being considered by the Scottish Government.
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the Scottish Government is are looking at bringing in curbs on all takeaway restaurants and services as well as click and collect retail facilities.
The First Minister said her cabinet would discuss whether to introduce further restrictions in these areas when they meet tomorrow morning.
"The kind of issues we will be looking at – do we have to tighten up to reduce the number of people who are moving around any further? I talked last week about perhaps reducing click and collect, essential retail only, to may be looking at further restrictions on takeaways," she said.
She added that ministers had "not reached decisions" yet but that "these are the type of things we will be considering at our meeting tomorrow" before setting out the Government's decision.
READ MORE: Covid in Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon announces one further coronavirus death
Her intervention follows comments made by Deputy First Minister John Swinney yesterday that further restrictions may be needed to contain the spread of the virus.
Takeaway food services have been allowed to open during the lockdown while all other restaurants, cafes and bars have been closed.
However, there is concern that people are congregating at the facilities and not observing social distancing giving the virus a chance to spread.
Meanwhile, in a joint letter to the Scottish Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop today, retail groups expressed frustration that more restrictions could be imposed on the sector so soon after the latest changes.
Retailers say the latest “sudden and unexpected pronouncement” made at the Government’s coronavirus briefing means “forward visibility and certainty is being eroded” for shops.
They describe click and collect services as a “lifeline” for struggling businesses amid the forced closure of all non-essential shops and express concern at the apparent lack of evidence for such a move.
The letter is signed by the leaders of the Scottish Retail Consortium, the Booksellers Association of the UK & Ireland, the Horticultural Trades Association, the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), and the Radio, Electrical and Television Retailers’ Association (Retra).
READ MORE: Covid in Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon urged not to ban click and collect retail
At today's Scottish Government briefing, Sturgeon revealed that Scotland has recorded one death from coronavirus and 1782 positive tests in the past 24 hours.
It brings the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 4969.
She said 151,548 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 149,766 the previous day.
The daily test positivity rate is 11.5%, up from 10% on the previous day.
Of the new cases, 595 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 307 in Lanarkshire, 194 in Lothian, and 144 in Ayrshire and Arran.
There are 1664 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, up 126 in 24 hours.
Of these patients, 126 are in intensive care, an increase of three.
Sturgeon spoke out as children across Scotland began another period of home schooling.
The First Minister did not "underestimate how difficult this is both from an educational perspective and for young people".
She thanked students, saying: "You are having the toughest of times, but you are coping with it extremely well, so thank you for that."
Sturgeon added it would also be "difficult" for parents juggling working with home schooling as she stressed: "We all want schools back to normal just as soon as it is safe and possible to do that.
"Getting schools back to normal remains a priority for us."
She also confirmed that as of Sunday, January 10, a total of 163,377 people in Scotland had received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine.
She added there are now 1100 vaccination sites operational – mainly GP practices and community vaccination centres.
She said: "As our supplies of the vaccine increase, the number of venues will increase further, as pharmacies and other mass vaccination centres come on stream and also start to be used.
"We are working hard to get through this vaccination programme just as quickly as possible, because it is the main route out right now of the situation we all find ourselves in."
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