By Tony O’Riley-
Glasgow will continue to be the only part of Scotland under level three restrictions for at least another week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there was still concern about an outbreak of the Indian variant of the virus in the city.
She said the variant was now accounting for about half of the new Covid cases in Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon said it was hoped the city would be able to move to level two on Saturday of next week, adding that there were signs that the situation in Glasgow was beginning to stabilise, with the number of new cases falling in recent days in the postcode areas in the southside of the city which had been at the centre of the outbreak of the Indian variant.
The level three restrictions prohibit people from meeting in each other’s homes, pubs and restaurants are also not able to sell alcohol indoors.
The restrictions are badly affecting Glasgow business owners, who claim to be hard up, and have criticised the Scottish government for not giving them more financial support.
However, opposition parties had demanded urgent action to get the city back on a level footing with the rest of the country – where restrictions have eased in recent weeks – as quickly as possible.
Mobile testing and vaccination centres have been set up in many parts of Glasgow over the past few weeks.
And there has been no significant increase in the number of people being hospitalised with the virus – which public health experts say suggests that it is mainly younger, unvaccinated people who are contracting it.
The R number – which represents the rate at which the virus spreads – for Scotland is now estimated to stand at about 1.3, largely driven by the number of cases in Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon said the decision to keep Scotland’s largest city in level three for a further week had been “very difficult”.
But she said the number of new cases continued to be “uncomfortably high” despite the signs of progress.
The first minister added: “The view of the National Incident Management Team is that it would be premature to move Glasgow out of level three immediately, while the situation remains so fragile.”
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However, if the situation continues to stabilise, Ms Sturgeon said the management team would support a move to level two at the end of next week.
Responding to the announcement, the Federation of Small Business said its members in Glasgow had become “used to these weekly Friday disappointments” – with this one “even more galling” because of sunny weather forecast for the Bank Holiday on Monday.
Its chairman, Andrew McRae, said: “The businesses and employees hardest hit by these ongoing restrictions need proper support now.
“The Glasgow hospitality industry was given two days to scrap their re-opening plans (earlier this month) – but even now, after two weeks, we still don’t have adequate financial support measures in place.”