Coronavirus: Aberdeen lockdown extended for at least another week
There have been 177 new cases since an outbreak was detected in the city.
Wednesday 12 August 2020 15:04, UK
Aberdeen's coronavirus lockdown will remain in place for at least another week, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Restaurants, bars and pubs will stay closed and people will not be able to visit other people's homes until the situation is reviewed next week, Ms Sturgeon said during First Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
There have now been 177 confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to the coronavirus outbreak in the city, with 940 people contact-traced as a result.
Lockdown measures, including stopping people from travelling more than five miles away from their homes, were imposed in Aberdeen on 5 August after several new cases were linked to The Hawthorn Bar in the city centre. It closed voluntarily for at least 14 days.
Ms Sturgeon said of the decision to maintain restrictions: "I know people in Aberdeen, who of course are today dealing with severe weather as well as coronavirus, will be disappointed with this decision, but I want to thank them for complying so well with the measures that we put in place last week.
"I want to stress that nobody wants these restrictions to be in place for longer than is necessary.
"They will be reviewed in one week's time and as soon as we can relax any of them, then we will do."
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Placing restrictions on the rest of Aberdeenshire is currently not necessary, she added.
A total of 2,491 patients have died in Scotland as a result of the virus, with 19,126 cases detected, up by 47 on Tuesday.
There have been no virus deaths in Scotland over the past 24 hours.
In England, parts of Greater Manchester, West Lancashire and Yorkshire have lockdown restrictions back in place after a considerable spike in cases.