'Circuit breaker' being seriously considered for Scotland
Covid in Scotland: No new virus restrictions announced
(about 4 hours later)
A so-called "circuit-breaker" lockdown is being seriously considered for Scotland, national clinical director Jason Leitch has confirmed.
Scotland's first minister has not announced any additional coronavirus restrictions in her latest review of the rules.
The Scottish government adviser has told the BBC the idea is being actively considered, but "not yet".
But Nicola Sturgeon said she would not hesitate to take further action in the coming weeks if it was needed to curb the recent increase in cases.
Prof Leitch said the introduction of severe restrictions would be short-term pain for long-term gain.
The number of people in hospital with the virus has nearly doubled to 154 over the past week.
On Wednesday, Scotland recorded 640 cases and seven deaths - its highest number of fatalities since mid-June.
And Ms Sturgeon said the country's R number could now be as high as 1.7.
The Scottish government has stressed that no decisions have been made.
The first minister said that a further 688 people had tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, which she said was 10.8% of those who had been newly tested.
Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Prof Leitch suggested the upcoming school holidays could be a factor in preparations.
Three more people have died after testing positive for the virus - bringing the total number under that measurement to 2,522.
'Strict travel restrictions'
Ms Sturgeon said the figures demonstrated why it had been necessary to impose tighter restrictions last week, when a ban on visiting other people's homes was introduced alongside a 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants.
He said: "The theory is, if you had a stricter order - a stay-at-home order - it wouldn't have to include everything so including schools would be optional, then this would buy you time going into the winter.
But she gave no indication that the Scottish government was planning to impose a so-called "circuit-breaker" lockdown.
"School holidays would be one of the things we would consider because that is an easier way to include schools."
The country's national clinical director, Prof Jason Leitch, said earlier on Thursday that this was being "seriously considered".
Asked if the circuit breaker was imminent, he said: "Not yet. Our advice is we are certainly considering it. This is an idea that's come from around the world via Sage, the big scientific group that advises the whole of the UK and now our Scottish government advisory group is looking at it."
Prof Leitch said the move could see the country put back into stricter lockdown for a two or three week period, potentially during the October school holidays, with businesses such as pubs and restaurants possibly having to close and tighter travel restrictions being introduced.
He added that the challenge with a circuit breaker was that it would include a strict travel restriction and the closure of some businesses.
But he stressed that no decision had yet been taken on whether it would be necessary.
He said the Scottish government was reluctant to add any restrictions to Scotland but if it thought that in the end it would be better - a "pain for gain" situation, then it might go ahead.
Ms Sturgeon did formally confirm that the easing of some measures, which had originally been due to take place next week, would definitely not go ahead.
He also said the scientific data suggested a circuit breaker lockdown would work best if the R (reproduction) number was only just above 1 because it created a boost to get it to safe levels of below 1.
These rules cover soft play areas, indoor contact sports for those aged 12 and above, and some live events and sports stadiums.
He said: "We are worried we are a bit higher than that. There is less benefit in going from 1.7 to 1.5 as there would be going from 1.1 to 0.8 - you could see why that would be more advantageous."
Ms Sturgeon had indicated last month that they were unlikely to be relaxed at this stage.
With a total of more than 3,600 new cases in the last seven days, Prof Leitch said infections were still accelerating - even when not counting the clusters of university students.
She told the Scottish Parliament: "I hope members will agree that it would not be sensible to ease restrictions that are still in place while infection rates are rising and we are working to bring them back down.
He said the main risk in the spread of the virus remained household mixing which could be seen in almost every case.
"We will review these restrictions again by 15 October. However, if we need to take further action before that to curb the spread of the virus we will not hesitate to do so, but of course we will report that to parliament."
He said additional measures to curb the spread of the virus would centre on two areas - travel and places where people mixed. And the dilemma came in the timing.
'Democratic deficit'
He said: "That's the dilemma - how long you wait to see if the current measures are having an effect? It takes two weeks to know if anyone has caught the virus and given it to other people.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said all proposals for future coronavirus restrictions - including any plan for a circuit-breaker lockdown - should be voted on by the Scottish Parliament before being imposed.
"Everything we do has this horrid delay which is why we have conversations about when should we do something next because by the time we do it we might be too late."
Mr Leonard said: "Since the need for local and targeted restrictions, new rules have increasingly been announced via late night press releases, Twitter and TV interviews.
Prof Leitch's comments come as the first minister prepares to give the results of her three-week review of lockdown restrictions in Scotland.
"Parliament has so far not had an opportunity to give its consent to local restrictions, unless they have already expired.
People are not allowed to visit each other's homes across the country and on Wednesday, Nicola Sturgeon warned about the dangers of letting the virus get "out of control".
"This is no way to govern. Parliament is supposed to provide checks and balance to government power. Without this we risk a real democratic deficit."
Deputy First Minister John Swinney told the Covid-19 committee at Holyrood that some "detailed work" was being undertaken on the circuit breaker, which he described as a "more aggressive interruption of the development of the pandemic".
Ms Sturgeon responded by pledging: "Where it is possible we will seek to bring things to parliament in advance".
Mr Swinney, said he would not describe this as a "specific proposition", saying it was instead "more the raising of the possibility that if the pandemic continues to grow at an accelerating rate in the period going forward, there may be a necessity to take some of what I would describe as interruptive action to try to slow further and more aggressively the development of the pandemic".
But she added: "This is an infectious virus and we have to act quickly and flexibly sometimes if we have a sudden spike or outbreaks that are putting health and life at risk."
He stressed to MSPs: "No decisions have been taken for that to be the case."
