Covid in Scotland LIVE as Nicola Sturgeon to announce if restrictions can be lifted

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Nicola Sturgeon will announce later today if covid restriction in Scotland are set to be lifted as cases continue to drop across the country.

The First Minister is expected to address MSPs in the Scottish Parliament at around 2.20pm. It comes as measures were lifted on Monday, January 17 for live outdoor events meaning 60,000 football fans swarmed into Celtic Park to see the Hoops beat Hibs in the first match to be held with a large crowd in weeks.A decision is expected to be made on current restrictions on hospitality and leisure venues later, but Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Tories, called on the First Minister to scrap restrictions apart from mask rules.He said: "The Scottish Government's own data shows that we are past the peak of Omicron."The latest evidence means we can now be far more optimistic," said the party leader."People across Scotland have learned to live with Covid."The success of Scotland and the UK's vaccine scheme means the public can now tackle Covid through their own actions, without the need for so many government restrictions." To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here. Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organisation's special envoy on Coivd-19, said the situation in the UK "gives us grounds for hope" but urged caution.He told BBC Breakfast: "The situation in the UK.

It gives us grounds for hope and I'm personally very pleased to see that."The goal that we're all aiming for is a situation where this virus is present, but life is organised so that it is not disrupted."We also need to be humble, this virus is continuing to evolve and we're never quite sure that we know exactly where it's going to go next."We need real honesty - it's just no good anybody suggesting that