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Restrictions on visiting other households have been reintroduced in Glasgow and two neighbouring areas after a rise in coronavirus cases.
The new rules affect more than 800,000 people in Glasgow city, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire.
They are being told not to host people from other households in their own homes or visit another person’s home.
The restrictions came into effect from midnight. They will last for two weeks, but will be reviewed after a week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday that 135 of the 314 new cases in Scotland over the past two days had been in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
She said Covid-19 continued to be a dangerous and potentially deadly virus.
“It is spreading again, particularly in these three local authority areas, and we believe that, in these areas, it is spreading primarily as a result of household gatherings,” she said.
The restrictions affect 633,120 people living in Glasgow, 95,530 in East Renfrewshire and 88,930 in West Dunbartonshire.
People living in those areas should also not visit someone else’s home, no matter where it is.
The only exception is for those in extended households, who can continue to meet indoors.
Only essential indoor visits will be allowed in hospitals and care homes.
People from different households can continue to meet outdoors as long as they follow the guidance, and outdoor visits to care homes are still permitted.
Scotland’s coronavirus hotspots
Positive tests rates in areas subject to restrictions
“I think this should be a wake-up call, not just for people in Glasgow city, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire,” said the first minister.
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“It should be a wake-up call for all of us to stick to the guidelines and stop this virus spreading any further or any faster.”
Ms Sturgeon said the reopening of schools had not been responsible for what had happened.
She said a “very small number” of school-age children had tested positive for the virus, and that this had mostly been driven by community transmission.
“Part of the reason that we have to take tough action, where necessary, to minimise community transmission is to stop that becoming a problem for schools,” she said.
She added that the preventative action was designed to keep schools open and businesses operating.
Ms Sturgeon had raised concerns earlier in the day after the latest daily figures showed that 66 of the 154 new cases recorded in Scotland had been in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
That compared with an average of eight cases a day in the same area in the first two weeks of August.
The daily incidence rate of Covid-19 is now almost 33 new cases per 100,000 people in West Dunbartonshire, 22 in Glasgow and almost 19 in East Renfrewshire. The rate for the rest of Scotland is just over 10.
The local lockdown which was imposed in Aberdeen last month had been triggered by a rate of 14 cases per 100,000 population.
Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, said the announcement was a bitter blow to care homes in the three affected local authority areas.
He told BBC Scotland’s The Nine: “Unfortunately it is the selfish behaviour and attitude of a few, who have put themselves first, which have meant that some of our most vulnerable citizens have been prevented from meeting their families.
“I am extremely disappointed that there will be hundreds of families not able to visit each other indoors in the next week or so.”
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Source: BBC News – Health
