Nicola Sturgeon banned Scots from drinking outside and making non-essential click-and-collect orders today as she tightened Scotland’s lockdown still further.
From Saturday people picking up takeaway meals will be barred from entering eateries, instead having to wait outside, she told the Scottish Parliament.
And new laws will be brought in to put a legal requirement on businesses to force them to allow staff to work from home if they can do so.
Addressing MSPs at Holyrood she said new lockdown restrictions appear to be having an effect, with the rise in new daily cases seen around the turn of the year slowing down.
However, she said there is ‘no room for complacency’, adding: ‘It is too soon to be entirely confident that the situation is stabilising.
‘Even if it is, this will only be because of lockdown – it is not, unfortunately, an indication that it is safe to ease it yet in any way.’
Pressure on the NHS, Ms Sturgeon said, was likely to continue ‘for some time’ as she urged people to continue to adhere to the new regulations.
Alcohol consumption outdoors in all Level 4 areas of Scotland will be banned, under new regulations, meaning anyone who buys takeaway alcohol must consume it in their own home.
Ms Sturgeon’s decision is likely to pile the pressure on Boris Johnson who is also thought to be considering tightening the rules in England.
Only retailers selling essentials, such as clothing, baby equipment and books, will be able to offer collection services in Scotland from this weekend.
From Saturday people picking up takeaway meals will be barred from entering eateries, instead having to wait outside, she told the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Sturgeon’s decision is likely to pile the pressure on Boris Johnson who is also thought to be considering tightening the rules in England
For those allowed to continue, the First Minister said ‘staggered appointments’ will be needed to end queuing, as well as not allowing people inside premises.
The First Minister said: ‘I know that businesses affected by this change will be disappointed and that many have gone to great lengths to make services as safe as possible.
‘But we must reduce as far as is possible the reasons people have just now for leaving home and coming into contact with others.
‘I welcome the actions of those businesses that have voluntarily suspended click and collect and tightened their procedures in relation to face coverings.’
Scotland has recorded 79 deaths of coronavirus patients and 1,949 new cases in the past 24 hours. It’s coronavirus death toll now stands at 5,102.
The Scottish Government will seek to close a loophole allowing people to do non-essential things during lockdown.
The First Minister told MSPs regulations would be changed, forbidding people from leaving home for an essential purpose and then doing something considered not to be essential after they have left the house.
While the list of essential reasons for leaving home will not change, the First Minister said: ‘It does mean that if the police challenge you for being out of the house doing something that is not essential, it will not be a defence to say you initially left the house to do something that was essential.’
Mr Johnson today hailed ‘early’ signs that the brutal lockdown is bringing coronavirus under control in England as he clashed with Keir Starmer at PMQs – but refused to rule out tightening the rules there further.
The premier insisted the measures in England were being kept ‘under constant review’ as the Labour leader demanded to know why they were looser than last spring despite cases being higher.
He also angrily denied dragged his heels over introducing the national squeeze before Christmas, with Sir Keir swiping that 17,000 people had died since then and another million people been infected.
But Mr Johnson sounded a notably optimistic tone about the emerging impact of the restrictions.
Although he said the situation was ‘troubling’ and accepted the NHS was under huge pressure, the PM said that the country was ‘now starting to see the beginnings of some signs’ that the crackdown was having an effect in parts of the country. He stressed it was ‘early days’ and urged people to ‘keep their discipline’.
The Scottish First Minister said yesterday that bolstered restrictions are being looked at in a number of areas amid concerns people are still mixing too much in person.
She suggested takeaway restaurants could be instructed to change the way they serve customers to prevent mixing indoors while click and collect could be restricted to only essential services.
The SNP leader is due to set out her decisions to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon after her cabinet met last night. Yesterday it was announced the official coronavirus death toll in Scotland had passed 5,000.
The prospect of tighter curbs in Scotland will inevitably increase speculation that Boris Johnson could follow suit in England, with the PM also thought to be considering tightening lockdown to slow the rate of infection.
Nicola Sturgeon is due to announce today whether lockdown rules in Scotland will be tightened
Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly beat Mr Johnson to the punch throughout the pandemic, often announcing policy shifts just hours or days before the PM.
Yesterday she told her daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh: ‘I have just earlier this morning chaired the weekly meeting of the Scottish Cabinet.
‘As I indicated yesterday, one of the things we discussed was whether there are any areas – takeaway, click and collect services being two examples – where we think there is a need to further tighten restrictions to reduce the occasions and reasons for people to be out of their homes at the moment.
‘We are continuing to consider these options a little bit further and I can tell you that I will update Parliament tomorrow on any decisions we reach over the course of the day.’
Ms Sturgeon suggested takeaway food and click and collect shopping will not be banned altogether but existing rules could be tightened.
She said: ‘Takeaway, and we are not picking on any particular sector or any particular part of sectors, but if you think about right now, we are asking people to stay at home except for essential purposes.
‘But people can still go for takeaway, still go into places for takeaway. Now, it may not be about saying you can’t have takeaway at all, but do we need to tighten up how that operates just to limit the potential for people coming together inside.
‘Click and collect as well. It may not be that we do away with click and collect or for a period click and collect all together.
‘But if we are saying to people right now you shouldn’t be out of your home for shopping unless it is essential then do we need to have click and collect for non-essential services instead of having that by delivery and is restricting that just reducing again the interactions.’
Ms Sturgeon’s comments came as Scotland recorded a further 54 coronavirus deaths and 1,875 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 5,023.
Ms Sturgeon said 153,423 people had now tested positive in Scotland, up from 151,548 the previous day.