Glasgow to enter tier 4 lockdown

Pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops to close from 6pm on Friday 20 November.

Glasgow City is set to enter tier four lockdown restrictions for three weeks from 6pm on Friday 20 November, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

The first minister made the announcement in her Covid-19 press briefing at 2:20pm this afternoon.

Under level four restrictions, Glasgow will see its toughest lockdown measures since March, which will include the closure of all cafes, pubs, restaurants, non-essential shops, and indoor leisure centres. Schools and construction sites will remain open and some outdoor meetings will still be permitted, though indoor socialising will be banned and all but essential travel discouraged. These rules will remain in place until Friday 11 December at least.

The move to tier four comes as Scotland sees 1,248 new positive Covid-19 cases and 37 deaths within the past 24 hours, as of Tuesday 17 November. Of these new cases, 439 were recorded in the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde area. The first minister hopes the implementation of a tier four lockdown now will help ease the spread of Covid-19 and allow for more relaxed rules in time for Christmas.

Other parts of western Scotland will also enter level four restrictions, these areas include local authority areas in the Greater Glasgow region: North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire; as well as regions elsewhere including East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Stirling, and West Lothian. In total, 11 council areas are set to be moved into tier four on Friday.

The restrictions come as Glasgow city council recently launched its “Fight 4 Glasgow” campaign to keep Glasgow out of tier four restrictions warning the move would affect over 75,000 jobs.

It also comes as the Scottish government recently announced its plan for sending students home from university for the Christmas holidays, involving widespread Covid-19 testing for students opting to return home as well as early and staggered departures from university campuses. For more up-to-date Covid-19 information regarding the University of Glasgow and the city please follow our Covid-19 liveblog here.