Coronavirus Scotland: National lockdown to be introduced in bid to stem rising tide of new cases

school first.

Covid-19. The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned the situation is "extremely serious" and action must be taken to halt the rapidly spreading new strain.

Scottish Government has expressed concerns over the number of new coronavirus cases in the country in recent days. Nicola Sturgeon said covid-19 hospital admission figures have exceeded those seen during the first wave of the pandemic in spring last year.

Ayrshire restaurants will keep serving hungry customers despite further restrictions to the hospitality industry.First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today announced further measures to Scotland's takeaway operations.From Saturday, January 16, punters will no longer be allowed entry inside a restaurant and must be served through a hatch.

Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a tightening of lockdown restrictions as the number of Covid-19 cases in Scotland continue to rise.Under the changes click and collect services will be limited to only essential purchases, while restrictions were also applied on takeaways meaning that residents will only be able to collect orders from outdoors to limit social interaction.Essential click and collect

Covid-19 is higher than at the height of the pandemic last spring.

Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be widely available across the country on Monday.A team of more than 3000 trained vaccinators are on standby to deliver doses to those aged over 80, who will be contacted by their health boards.The latest rollout follows an announcement by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who revealed that more than 110,000 Scots have already received the Pfizer jag.Scotland has an allocation of 533,640 doses of the Oxford vaccine for the month of January, which requires two jabs,

teaching will not resume for January or February. Only small numbers of students will be allowed back including those who stayed on campus over the winter break and where attendance is "critical" and cannot be postponed or done remotely.

care home residents.Nicola Sturgeon said a total of 113,459 people, including medics, got their first dose by January 3.The figures cover the initial Pfizer vaccine so numbers are expected to rise more quickly now a second vaccine is available.Sturgeon gave the update at the regular coronavirus briefing from Edinburgh.She said: "We are now well over half way through vaccinating care home residents with their first dose of the vaccine."That is extremely important, as you have just heard, more

schools will be closed for the entire of January as part of the new lockdown imposed across the country. Most pupils were scheduled to return to schools on the already-delayed date of January 18 after the winter break.

East Kilbride has been thrown into a tough lockdown as the First Minister ordered the people of Scotland to stay at home for the rest of the month.

England is facing a third national lockdown that will last at least six weeks, as authorities struggle to stem a surge in COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals around the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a tough new stay-at-home order for England that won’t be reviewed until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus.

Perth and Kinross remains in lockdown.

Covid-19. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said the rapid spread of the new strain had forced her to take serious and immediate action as Scotland faced an "extremely serious" situation.

Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.Scotland is being plunged back into a tougher lockdown to deal with soaring levels of COVID-19 infection.First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the harsher measures in an emergency statement at the Scottish Parliament, telling the public to "stay at home".She said: "The Cabinet met this morning to assess the up-to-date COVID situation - which is extremely serious - and discuss what further action is

In a series of tweets today, Ms Sturgeon said: "The rapid increase in Covid cases, driven by the new variant, is of very serious concern. The steep increases & severe NHS pressure being experienced in other parts of the UK is a sign of what may lie ahead.