Nicola Sturgeon 'utterly scunnered' by new Covid restrictions imposed to ease Xmas
20 November 2020, 14:19 | Updated: 7 June 2023, 08:56
Nicola Sturgeon said she was fed up with covid restrictions
Nicola Sturgeon has said she is "utterly scunnered and fed up" by new coronavirus restrictions as areas of Scotland heads into tighter restrictions.
The Scottish first minister, speaking at a government press conference on Friday, said that despite this exhaustion she could also see "a possible end in sight", which could lead to an increasingly normal way of life by spring.
"These restrictions are difficult and we are all scunnered and fed up, and I'm not going to stand here and pretend otherwise because I feel that same sense of being utterly scunnered and fed up as the rest of you do," she said.
"But we do now see a possible end in sight and I think it's really important that we don't forget that.
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"There is a very real prospect for all of us of a substantially more normal way of life being returned to us by the time we reach the spring of next year.
"I hope that encourages us, it won't make the next few weeks feel any better, but it hopefully will strengthen our resolve to stay safe ourselves, keep our families safe, keep others safe before we reach that point."
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Her comments on Friday come as parts of Scotland are bracing for restrictions to tighten from 6pm, which Mrs Sturgeon said would "lower the risk" of people catching Covid-19 at Christmas.
The most populated parts of the country will be seeing the measures, such as Glasgow, Stirling and Lanarkshire moving from Level 3 to Level 4 of the five-tier system.
This level means non-essential shops, hospitality, gyms and hairdressers will close. People will also be told to stay home as much as possible.
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Meanwhile, there will be a ban in place from anyone in Level 3 or 4 areas travelling outside their council boundaries.
The ban will also prohibit Scots from entering the country from other parts of the UK and Ireland.
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According to Mrs Sturgeon, another 32 people have died with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, along with 1,018 new infections recorded.
She said infections had stabilised over the last few weeks, but some places had stabilised at high levels of transmission.
The new restrictions, therefore, would be in place to tackle this before Christmas.
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"The fact is the fewer people who are in the population who have Covid by the time we get to Christmas, the lower the risk of people being infected with it during that period," she said.
"It's very important for me to be clear that the risks would not be zero - which is why we must be very careful about any relaxation over Christmas and people will have to think carefully themselves, even with any relaxation, about what they want to do or not."
