Scotland tightens Covid rules at Christmas

Covid restrictions will only be relaxed on Christmas Day and mainland Scotland will then be placed under the tightest restrictions from Boxing Day.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said "firm preventative action" was needed after the emergence of a faster-spreading strain of coronavirus.

It had been planned to ease the rules between 23 and 27 December - but that will now only apply on Christmas Day.

A ban on travel to the rest of the UK will apply over the festive period.

Tougher level four rules will apply across mainland Scotland from 26 December.

And schools will return later than originally planned after the Christmas holidays.

Ms Sturgeon said they should resume from 11 January, with learning taking place online until at least 18 January.

The first minister said decisive action was required because of a new strain of Covid which public health officials believe could be 70% more transmissible than previous strains.

At this stage she said there was no evidence to suggest the new strain made people sicker than earlier variants, or that it would change the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The new variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent - but by December it had become the "dominant variant" in London.

Ms Sturgeon said the speed at which it could spread meant this was "probably the most serious and potentially dangerous juncture we have faced" in the pandemic. But, she said Scotland still had the opportunity to act on a preventative basis.

So far 17 cases of the new strain had been identified in Scotland through genomic sequencing.

"We do not yet know how widely this new stain of virus is circulating in Scotland, but I think we have to be realistic that that is likely to be an understatement of its true prevalence right now," she added.

There was a "concern", however, that this strain may be driving what appears to be faster transmission of Covid in some hospitals and care homes.