The Scottish Government has set out further tighter Covid restrictions in a statement today, Wednesday 13 January 2021.
Taking effect from Saturday 16th January, six new rules are introduced designed to prevent the spread of covid. These are as follows:
1 – Limit availability and operation of click and collect. Only essential items will be able to open in this way and “all other click and collect services must stop”. Staggered appointments must be used to avoid queueing, and customers will not be allowed inside shops.
2 – Takeaways will be limited, with no customers allowed inside the building. Any business looking to offer takeaway food or drink “will have to do so from a serving hatch or doorway”.
3 – Alcohol will be further restricted. From Saturday it will be illegal to drink outdoors in all level 4 areas. The First Minister said she knew “this will not be a popular move, but it is intended to underline and support the fact that we should only be leaving home just now for essential purposes”.
4 – Employers will be further urged to allow employees to work from home. Statutory guidance will be issued to back this up. Sturgeon said: “For all employers, the basic message is that if your staff were working from home during the first lockdown, they should be working from home now.”
5 – Work done inside people’s houses will be further limited, with guidance being put into law. The First Minister said: “Work is only permitted within a private dwelling if it is essential for the upkeep, maintenance and functioning of the household. We will now put this guidance into law.”
6 – A loophole will be closed so that people cannot leave home for an essential purpose, and then conduct non-essential business. This, Nicola Sturgeon says, does not change the spirit of the lockdown but will help “provide legal clarity to facilitate any necessary enforcement”.
Despite the high figures, there are some signs lockdown measures may be starting to work, but we’re still some way off from restrictions being lifted.
