FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon will make a statement on Scotland’s coronavirus lockdown in Holyrood this afternoon.
Currently all of mainland Scotland is in a strict “stay at home” lockdown, while Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles remain under level 3 restrictions.
Last week the FM announced some changes to lockdown rules, which included new restrictions for takeaway and click and collect services.
Today in the Scottish Parliament her focus will be on schools and how pupils can return to classrooms safely, as well as the length of lockdown.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon to announce if Scotland's Covid lockdown will be extended
The Education Secretary has previously said it would be a “tall order” to get kids back to school by February 1.
Yesterday, the First Minister said she did not want to raise parents’ expectations about the announcement. She added that transmission of coronavirus remains “higher than we would want it to be”.
Viewers should not expect to tune in and find a sudden relaxation of measures or return to schools given infection rates of Covid-19 remain high.
Positive coronavirus cases have increased since the start of the year and hit more than 2500 daily cases on two days earlier in the month, but have fallen since then.
The number of hospital admissions continues to increase and Scotland is said to be in a “very precarious” position.
Explaining how a decision will be made on the length of the lockdown, the First Minister told yesterday’s Scottish Government briefing: “We will look at the latest data and come to a view on where we are and whether we need to extend the lockdown restrictions to further suppress the virus.”
READ MORE: SNP MP bids to get vaccine 'misinformation' with links to LibDems shut down
Yesterday she met with the Cabinet to discuss the measures.
“As soon as we have taken a decision, I will set that out to Parliament. I think that is the best and fairest way of proceeding,” she told viewers.
“I would say we want to get schools back as quickly as we possibly can, it is not in the interests of kids to be out of school for any longer than is absolutely necessary but community transmission has always been a key factor in these decisions.”
The First Minister will address the Scottish Parliament at about 2.15pm. This will be available to view on the Parliament website and The National will be reporting on the update live.
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