Nicola Sturgeon issues fresh Covid-19 warnings to Scots as countries around world see new outbreaks

The First Minister has warned of the impact of potential second wave of the virus.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is served a coffee by Jamie Buchta during a visit to Cold Town House in Edinburgh's Grassmarket, where she saw the changes in place to keep staff and customers safe in the outdoor hospitality industry, as Scotland continues with the gradual lifting of restrictions to ease out of lockdown.

Nicola Sturgeon has warned of a potential second wave if people are “blind to the reality” of the potential for Covid-19 to spread widely again.

On Twitter, the First Minister retweeted three posts which highlighted renewed lockdowns in the Galicia and Catalonia areas of Spain, the closure of state borders within Australia, and the high number of positive coronavirus tests in the USA.

She said: “Last few RTs highlight some global Covid developments. Some of the media/political debate here just now – ‘why aren’t we opening up more quickly?’ – seems to be blind to that reality.

“If it gets out of control again, lives will be lost/damaged and the economy will suffer more.”

In Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city, people will not be able to leave their home for anything other than essential reasons for the next six weeks, with the measures coming into force from Wednesday.

Lockdown restrictions have been re-imposed on the city and will affect around five million people, with schools due to return to distance learning and restaurants only able to serve takeaway food.

The area had recorded 191 new confirmed cases, with 37 linked to known outbreaks and 154 under investigation earlier today.

Responding to the outbreak in Melbourne and the subsequent lockdown, Nicola Sturgeon said: “A stark reminder that we must not drop our guard against Covid.”

In Spain, officials in Galicia in the north-west of the country re-imposed restrictions on around 70,000 people following an outbreak of Covid-19.

It followed a similar local lockdown was imposed in Catalonia.

In Israel, cases spiked to 977 on Sunday, the highest daily number experienced by the country so far, with health minister Yuli Edelstein labelling it a second wave of the virus as tens of thousands of Israelis were ordered into quarantine last week.

Prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “We are at the height of a new corona offensive. This is a very strong outbreak that is growing and spreading in the world and also here.”

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