Quantcast
Menu
Save, make, understand money

Household Bills

Scotland toughens up lockdown restrictions

Emma Lunn
Written By:
Emma Lunn
Posted:
Updated:
13/01/2021

Click and collect services will be suspended for non-essential retail, and drinking alcohol in public places will be banned.

Further measures to help stop the spread of coronavirus in Scotland and limit non-essential contact will be introduced from 00.01 on Saturday.

A statement from the Scottish government said working from home should now be the default position for all businesses and services in Scotland, and only those who cannot do their job from home should be asked to go to the workplace.

Nobody who lives in a Level 4 area should leave or remain outside their home except for essential purposes.

From Saturday, non-essential click and collect retail services will be prohibited in Level 4 areas. This means retailers such as clothing and footwear stores, homeware stores, garden centres, baby equipment shops, electrical goods, key cutting and shoe repair shops, and bookstores, will longer be able to operate click and collect services.

Essential retailers offering click and collect will have to stick to new rules. Timeslots will be required for collection and people should not enter a store to collect an item.

Businesses providing takeaway food will also operate on a ‘non-entry’ basis only, meaning customers cannot enter the premises when placing or collecting orders.

Restrictions banning the consumption of alcohol in public places will also be introduced.

Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “The situation we face in relation to the virus remains extremely serious. We must continue to do everything possible to reduce case numbers – this is essential to relieve the pressure on our NHS and to save lives.

“Both individually and collectively, these additional measures – in further reducing the interactions that allow the virus to spread – will help our essential efforts to suppress it.”