Nicola Sturgeon has said her fears around pictures of crowds in Aberdeen from the weekend had “been realised” following the imposition of fresh restrictions on the city as the number of cases linked to an outbreak continue to rise.

The First Minister was speaking at her daily briefing after she announced those living in Aberdeen would not be able to travel further than five miles and all bars, pubs and restaurants were to close from 5pm today.

She said the decision to reimpose some restrictions on the city were the “biggest, loudest” warning to Scotland that the battle to contain Covid-19 was not over and repeated her plea to look at the rest of the world and re-emerging infections worldwide, reiterating that something similar could happen in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon said her fears had been realised following the reimposition of lockdown restrictions in Aberdeen.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It can happen here and it is happening here in Aberdeen so please take this as the biggest, loudest warning yet that this virus is still out there.

"We have forced it into retreat in the last few weeks but the battle is not won against it, this is a battle for the forseeable future that we have to fight and refight on a daily basis and all of us are the first line of defence against it.”

On Monday, the First Minister heavily criticised scenes of people flouting social distancing rules while socialising at bars across Scotland this weekend, saying they made her “want to cry”.

Reacting to the photos, Ms Sturgeon told followers on Twitter: “Scenes like these are dangerous, and could easily result in pubs being closed again - which no one wants.”

Speaking today, she admitted that her fears had, to an extent, been realised by the ongoing Aberdeen outbreak.

Ms Sturgeon said: “In terms of my fears, I’m standing up here today doing what I didn’t have to do which is to reimpose restrictions on a part of a country so in that sense, yes, my fears have been realised.

"I don’t want that to sound though that I am blaming people, I know how difficult this is, I know how terrible it is to be living under these restrictions, none of us enjoy it, none of us I am sure are perfect in our day-to-day compliance with these things.

"What I would say is where we have reached today with Aberdeen should be the biggest wake-up call in this pandemic since the early days of it. It hasn’t gone away, I so wish it had gone away.”

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Nicola Sturgeon: Aberdeen lockdown 'biggest, loudest' warning that Covid-19 battle not over

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