Nicola Sturgeon: First Minister warns Scots not to travel to Blackpool this weekend

Scots should not travel to the Northern English seaside town of Blackpool amid a rising number of cases in the region, the First Minister has warned.

Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said the town was associated with a “large and growing number” of infections in Scotland.

She told people thinking of visiting Blackpool who had not booked yet to avoid doing so, and reserved a specific warning for football fans.

“If you were thinking of going to Blackpool and you haven't booked yet, then please do not go,” she said.

Scots should not travel to the Northern English seaside town of Blackpool amid a rising number of cases in the region, the First Minister has warned. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

“Do not travel to Blackpool this weekend to watch the old firm match in a pub,” she added, “If you do that, you will be putting yourselves, and you will be putting other people at risk.”

In the last month, around 180 people in Scotland with Covid reported that they had recently been in Blackpool.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Many of us have happy childhood memories of going to see the Blackpool illuminations, but this is one of the places currently classed by the UK government as a high risk area.

“And I need to advise you that trips to Blackpool are now associated with a large and growing number of publications in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Many of us have happy childhood memories of going to see the Blackpool illuminations, but this is one of the places currently classed by the UK government as a high risk area.

“We indeed now have an incident management team in Scotland, that has been set up to look specifically at cases associated with Blackpool.”

“Let me be clear that doesn't necessarily mean that they got Covid during the trip,” Ms Sturgeon said, adding that it was “not possible to be absolutely certain” where someone contracted the virus.

Her latest warning comes as new figures showed 344 Scots who had tested positive for coronavirus in the last week had reported some form of travel outside of Scotland to contact tracers.

252 of those people traveled somewhere else in the UK.

“Quite a lot of people who have contracted Covid and have also been to Blackpool, travelled by coach,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“We understand that that is very common - particularly at this time of year.”

“For some of you, and many people fall into this category, it's almost an annual ritual, but I'm asking you if you can avoid it.”

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