NICOLA Sturgeon has announced that details of further lockdown measures in Scotland will be confirmed tomorrow.
The First Minister said she would take part in a Cobra meeting tomorrow morning.
She tweeted: "4 UK CMOs - inc @DrGregorSmith - agree raising of #Covid_19 alert level to 4. I’ll participate in COBR meeting tomorrow am, after which @scotgov Cabinet will agree measures to bring virus back under control in Scotland. I’ll then offer statement to @ScotParl tomorrow pm."
4 UK CMOs - inc @DrGregorSmith - agree raising of #Covid_19 alert level to 4. I’ll participate in COBR meeting tomorrow am, after which @scotgov Cabinet will agree measures to bring virus back under control in Scotland. I’ll then offer statement to @ScotParl tomorrow pm.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) September 21, 2020
It comes as the coronavirus alert level in the UK moves from three to four, which means prevalence of coronavirus is “high” or “rising exponentially”.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Chief medical officers advise PM to raise alert level to four
Sturgeon had a phone call with Johnson earlier today after Sir Patrick Valance, the UK Government's chief scientific adviser, said this morning that there could be as many as 50,000 new cases of the virus every day by the middle of October if the disease continues to spread as quickly as it is now. He warned if there were 50,000 new daily cases, this could lead to as many as 200 deaths a day.
Questioned about what the new restrictions could be, Sturgeon appeared to hint they may focus on indoor settings both relating to visiting other households and to the hospitality sector.
"Given what we know about the nature of transmission, the biggest risk at the moment is household to household. When this virus gets into a household it is very likely to infect everybody or most people in that household, even if it's a younger person that is the first one to be infected if there are older people in the household they are likely to be infected," she said.
"That's why we reduced households gathering to six two a few weeks ago and obviously other indoor areas where people are likely to be gathering together.
"Clearly that brings into scope hospitality, and these are areas we are looking carefully at as well."
READ MORE: Scots lockdown may include pub curbs and house visiting ban
Earlier Nicola Sturgeon warned that people in Scotland are “likely to face” coronavirus restrictions for a further six months.
The First Minister told today's briefing on the pandemic that this did not mean that all the new nationwide curbs she will announce over the next 48 hours will be in place over the six-month timescale.
But she added that it was likely some restrictions would be in place during the course of that period.
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