Police to be given new powers to enforce coronavirus rules
Reading time: 1 minute
Police Scotland will be given powers to break up large house parties and councils will be allowed to shut companies down that fail to follow the coronavirus rules.
The Scottish government announced the measures as new cases of COVID-19 reached their highest level for almost three months.
The latest figures show 77 people have tested positive in the past 24 hours, with the total now in excess of 19,500.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland could not yet move to phase four of the government’s ‘route map’.
She said: “The Scottish government has powers under emergency legislation to issue directions in respect of a class of premises — for example, to close all pubs in a particular postcode.
“We intend to give local authorities the power to act in respect of individual, specific premises that are breaching guidelines and risking transmission of the virus.”
The powers, which come into force next Friday, were “necessary to continue to suppress the virus”, Ms Sturgeon said.
Of Scotland’s new cases, 27 were in Tayside. Eight adults at Kingspark School in Dundee tested positive. Scotland is now recording 52 cases per day on average.
Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter to not miss articles like this one:
SUBSCRIBE
