Hospitality restrictions reimposed in Scotland in fight against Omicron variant

Some restrictions come into force on Sunday, while more will be imposed from Monday.
Nicola Sturgeon announced the changes earlier this week (Fraser Bremner/Daily Mail/PA)
PA Wire
Craig Paton26 December 2021

Restrictions on hospitality are due to be reimposed from 5am on Boxing Day as the Scottish Government looks to stem the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

With the increased transmissibility of the new strain, the Scottish Government has imposed limits on the number of people who can attend events.

Only 100 are allowed to attend a standing indoor event and 200 at a seated event.

Outdoor events have been limited to 500, meaning large-scale Hogmanay celebrations have been scrapped.

Despite the restrictions, football games in the Scottish Premiership will go ahead on Boxing Day, with the winter break brought forward to limit the impact of restrictions on teams.

Indoor non-professional contact sports have also been stopped.

The restrictions will be reviewed in three weeks, and will be paired with further changes coming into effect from Monday at 5am, including the closure of nightclubs.

Indoor hospitality and leisure settings will also have to return to one-metre social distancing and table service where appropriate under the new measures.

Announcing the restrictions this week, Nicola Sturgeon said she understood how disappointing the changes will be to those impacted.

The First Minister added: “Just a few days before Christmas, I am again urging people to stay at home as much as possible, to slow down a highly infectious new variant.

“But, although it may not feel like it, we are in a much stronger position than last year.

“We have had far fewer restrictions in place for much of this year than was the case last year.

“Christmas Day will be more normal.

“Most importantly, a rapidly increasing number of adults is now protected by three doses of vaccine.”

The most recent figures, released on Christmas Eve, show 7,076 new cases of Covid-19, 10 deaths and a 14.7% positivity rate.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in