Travel to parts of northern England “should be avoided”, the Scottish Government has warned, hours after coronavirus lockdown restrictions were suddenly tightened.
Under last-minute new measures announced late on Thursday, millions of households across north England were banned overnight from meeting others from separate households in homes and hospitality venues, following a rise in new Covid-19 infections.
Shortly after Boris Johnson addressed leaders of the devolved nations on Friday, Holyrood updated its own advice, urging that travel between Scotland and Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire “should only be undertaken if absolutely essential”.
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Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement: “We have always been clear that localised flare ups are likely as we continue to suppress the virus but by responding quickly and appropriately we can limit the effect these have on wider transmission.
“I strongly advise anyone planning to travel to areas affected in the north of England, or anyone planning to travel to Scotland from those same areas, to cancel their plans.”
She added in a tweet: ”If you are from Scotland and already visiting one of these areas, you don’t have to cut short your visit – but please abide by the rules while there and be extra vigilant when you come home, especially for symptoms.
“We are surrounded by warnings right now that Covid hasn’t gone away and may indeed be on the rise again. We ignore these warnings at our peril.”
The sudden imposition of new rules for the northern regions – enforceable with fines of up to £100 – was heavily criticised, with Labour’s Lisa Nandy saying she “could not describe the level of chaos” in her Wigan constituency after the announcement, which came hours before the first day of Eid.
The head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Harun Khan, said that the timing felt to Muslims “like being told they cannot visit family and friends for Christmas on Christmas Eve itself”.
“Failure to communicate makes it difficult for communities across the country to continue working together to minimise the spread of the virus, whilst eroding trust in the ability of authorities to steer our course,” Mr Khan added.
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And while Labour leader Keir Starmer attacked the government for not asking pubs to close, Tory MPs also turned on ministers over the blanket imposition of measures across Greater Manchester despite low infection rates in some areas.
But Matt Hancock, who announced the measures in a series of tweets at 9.15pm and a short TV appearance, defended the imposition of new restrictions at midnight.
“We made the announcement last night, we are moving quickly in some circumstances and I think that’s very important and it’s one of the things that when you face a pandemic like this, it is important sometimes to move quickly, if that’s what’s needed,” the health secretary said.
After widespread outrage over the lack of detail in the initial announcement – which Mr Hancock defended as “crystal clear” despite appearing to get the new rules wrong himself in a BBC interview – the prime minister gave a further announcement on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Johnson postponed the planned lifting of further restrictions in England on Saturday for at least another fortnight, saying it was time to “squeeze the brake pedal” on the return to normality as he announced the wearing of face coverings would become mandatory in cinemas, museums, and places of worship from next weekend.
The prime minister suggested the daily number of new infections in the community may have more than doubled over the last month – with England seeing 4,900 new infections every day, compared to around 2,000 per day at the end of June.
His announcement came shortly after new Office for National Statistics data also suggested a small rise in the number of infections across the country in recent weeks.
England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty flanked the prime minister on Thursday, warning: “I think what we’re seeing from the data from ONS and other data is that we have probably reached near the limit or the limits of what we can do in terms of opening up society.
“So what that means potentially is that if we wish to do more things in the future, we may have to do less of some other things. And these will be difficult trade-offs, some of which will be decisions for government and some of which are for all of us as citizens to do.
“But we have to be realistic about this. The idea that we can open up everything and keep the virus under control is clearly wrong.”
