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SCOTLAND HAS FOLLOWED England in announcing stricter restrictions for Christmas in the face of a new strain of coronavirus spreading in the UK.
Travel between Scotland and other parts of the UK will not be allowed over the Christmas and New Year’s period.
Visits to another household will only be allowed on Christmas Day, with a three week lockdown coming into effect on 26 December.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the spread of the new strain in the UK meant that tighter restrictions were needed to prevent significant damage that the strain could cause.
Sturgeon described the current situation as “probably the most serious and potentially dangerous juncture we have faced since the start of the pandemic in February and March”.
“We have to take this seriously and act accordingly and appropriately,” Sturgeon said.
“The upside is if we do act now and act firmly now we can prevent that serious situation materialising,” she said.
“The bottom line we face right now is this: if we don’t act firmly and decisively now to stop is spreading, it will take hold here.”
Sturgeon said it could mean the NHS would be overwhelmed in January and more people could die than otherwise would.
“We simply cannot risk more of this new strain entering the country if we can possibly avoid it. That means people from Scotland not visiting other parts of the UK, and vice versa.”
In schools, the Christmas holiday will be extended until 11 January and learning will take place online until 18 January at the earliest.
An exception will be made for some students, such as the children of key workers, who will be able to return to schools as was previously scheduled.
England’s chief medical officer Chris Witty confirmed today that the new strain of the virus can spread more quickly and called for greater public vigilance to reduce transmission.
Earlier this evening, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tighter restrictions for London and the South East and East of England that cut back on a relaxation of the rules for Christmas that previously had been planned.
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Almost twice the numbers dying from suicide as die on the roads. This is at national crisis level at this stage and needs to be tackled with the same amount of resources that have been put at the disposal of the road safety campaigns.
I have to agree. This is a national emergency.
Every life lost is a tragedy.
No surprise here. One other issue is that you cannot even do voluntary work because you’ll lose your social welfare if you do as “you are not available for interview or to take up full time employment”. Just goes to show the idiocy of the Political Institutions / Department Of Social Welfare. If you were doing voluntary work and living on the €188 a week, would you continue to that if offered a full time job? I know that if I was called to an interview I would tell the voluntary organisation that I cannot make it in as I have an interview and if I got the job I would take it and leave the voluntary work.
Voluntary work will help keep people sane and motivated to look for work, otherwise people will stay at home get demoralised and think what’s the point in even looking for a job. People think that there are a lot of people are on welfare because they “like it”. RUBBISH! I’d like the politicians to live on social welfare benefits for a month and to carry out all the strings that go with it and then justify how they can say it is a “comfortable lifestyle”
There is a form to complete, and if approved ie a reputable voluntary organisation is essential, you can do voluntary work – I do :).
Voluntary work is just that and if you volunteer and at the start explain if an interview comes up you are attending then that is appreciated and understood. And your skills will be much appreciated and you will keep your work skills up to date, motivate yourself and give back to the community – go for it CSEC Bio? If you want to volunteer for Sea Shepherd just let me know, happy to have you on board.
who on earth keeps thumbing comments down?. if I find out who they are they will be terminated.
Just ignore them.
Even if every banker & politician was made to read that report I wonder just how much they would really care. Peoples lives seem to matter less and less.
I personally know of 5 individuals, young men, who were in construction and were caught where they owed the supplier for materials and the developers refused to pay them anything, they were left with massive bills and lost of pressure from the suppliers. The individuals could not take legal action against the developers because of this NAMA thing ! and every one of the individuals took their own lives, leaving young families, parents, siblings, wives, girlfriends, friends, neightbours and community devestated.
And the Government has just cut spending on Suicide assistance ? WHY ?
sad the people at the top never cared never did nor never will i highllighted this last week in the lenihan article and in it lies some of their decision making bullshit for the ordinary people how much more can a race of people take without revolting something got to give
Lenihan gets a Kings funeral while those driven to suicide rarely even get a mention in the media. Its a tragedy.
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