Government considering tighter restrictions than England for new tiered lockdown system

The Scottish Government is considering adding a fourth tier or making the tier three restrictions tighter than in England when it introduces a similar system to tackle coronavirus.

Nicola Sturgeon said the government was “mindful” of concerns that had been expressed about whether the tier system in England had gone far enough.

Boris Johnson unveiled a new three-tiered lockdown system yesterday, which will see areas with “very high” risk close bars and pubs from Wednesday.

But England’s chief medical officer, Chris Witty, warned this “will not be sufficient” to slow COVID infections alone.

The first minister said: “We want to if possible have an aligned, strategic framework between the four nations because I think that makes sense and gives people a bit of ease of understanding. But we have to make sure the content of that is right for the circumstances we are facing here.

“Without announcing any decisions, because we haven’t reached them yet, there would be a couple of options. If we thought that the tier three announced in England wasn’t sufficient, you could toughen up what the minimum of that tier three was or you could have another tier above that.

“These are the options we will consider over the next few days before bringing our proposal to parliament after the October break.”

She also highlighted the public health restrictions imposed on five health board areas in the central belt were already tighter than those to be brought in for tier three areas in England.