Nicola Sturgeon bans friends & family visits in Scotland saying Boris’ rules are ‘not sufficient’ to halt spread of bug

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NICOLA Sturgeon has banned family and friends from different households meeting up indoors from Wednesday to try and stop the skyrocketing numbers of coronavirus.

The First Minister said this afternoon the new restrictions on indoor gatherings comes alongside 10pm curfews for pubs and restaurants, claiming Boris Johnson’s new restrictions are “not sufficient” to halt the virus.

Nicola Sturgeon announced the new measures this afternoon

That means Scotland will choose a different tack again when it comes to lockdown restrictions, after Boris Johnson introduced curfews on pubs and stricter fines for the rule of six – but no further bans on separate households meeting up.

Ms Sturgeon said the curfews “on their own will not be sufficient to bring the R number down.”

She said: “(We have to act) on a scale significant enough to have an impact on the spread of the virus.

“Household interaction is a key driver of transmission, and we intend to introduce nationwide additional restrictions on household gatherings similar to those already in place in the west of Scotland.”

That means different households are no longer able to meet up in peoples homes or indoors.

She added: “We must stop the virus from spiralling out of control, and we can only do that if we accept restrictions in other aspects of our lives.”

Ms Sturgeon stressed that this was not a “full scale lockdown” despite going further than the rules in England.

The First Minister insisted the “tough” rules are an attempt to avoid a further lockdown.

Mr Johnson today said that the new measures in England would be in place for six months, but the First Minister said her stronger measures would be in place for a shorter period – because they were more drastic.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It is certainly the case that until scientific developments change the game in the battle against Covid, it will have a continuing impact on our lives.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the new restrictions I am announcing today will be in place for six months.

“By acting early and substantially, our hope is that these new measures will be in place for a shorter period than would be the case if we waited longer to act.”

Northern Ireland banned social gatherings of different households indoors last week.