Nicola Sturgeon 'very unlikely' to ease coronavirus restrictions

Nicola Sturgeon is to update parliament today on the latest COVID-19 restrictions, warning that she is “very unlikely” to ease the ban on household visits. 

She will instead discuss possible options for what will happen after the October half-term break and the introduction of a three tiered alert system similar to that the UK Government put into place this week. 

Sturgeon is also expected to give more detail on the stricter wearing of face coverings and to further discuss travel. 

Holyrood is in recess this week but Sturgeon will update MSPs remotely. 

Sturgeon will face questions from opposition MSPs after her statement at 12:20pm.

Three weeks have now passed since the rule came into place stopping people from welcoming visitors into their homes. 

Coronavirus figures for Wednesday show that 15 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 had died in the previous 24 hours. 

The number of new positive cases was 1,429 which brings the total to 42,685. 

Sturgeon urged Scots to “think very carefully” before making any non-essential travel, particularly warning people against visiting areas such as Blackpool this weekend. 

Scots in the central belt are currently expected not to travel outwith their health board area for non-essential purposes. 

On Wednesday Sturgeon agreed with Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford’s call for travel restrictions on people moving from high risk parts of the UK into others.

The Welsh government on Wednesday evening announced a ban on people travelling from parts of the UK with high COVID-19 rates into Wales. 

Sturgeon she would write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking urgent talks over UK-wide travel restrictions and called for a "sensible agreement" between the four nations.