Glasgow Covid restrictions: 'Optimism' that city could be placed in Level 2 next week

Currently, Glasgow is the only area of Scotland subject to tougher level three restrictions, with the rest of the country in Level 2. 

Speaking on the BBC's The Sunday Show, however, Swinney said he expects Covid restrictions in Glasgow to be eased before the Euro 2020 football tournament comes to the city. 

Swinney, who is the cabinet secretary for Covid recovery, said the period of tougher restrictions meant the city should put the city in a better position overall when it moves to Level 2. 

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The Deputy First Minister said: "We think this extra week was necessary to try to give us the advantage of suppressing the virus, but we are optimistic we will be able to do that at the end of this week.

"We think the measures we are taking - the evidence shows that they have been successful."

The deputy first minister has said he expects Covid restrictions in Glasgow to be eased before the Euro 2020 tournament comes to the city.

He praised the effort from those in the so-called hotspots of the city, and said there had been a "huge amount of activity" in the southside of Glasgow to target the outbreak.

Swinney also accepted that the Scottish Government had adjusted its vaccination strategy as a result of the no-shows at the Hydro in Glasgow saying: 

"What we are finding is the letter distribution programme - the blue envelopes - has worked very successfully for the older part of the population, but when it comes to the younger groups where there is more turnover in accommodation and GP registrations, that model is not working so successfully.

"That is why we have opened up the registration opportunity for 18-29 year-olds. And we have got over 200,000 registrations already for the vaccination programme.

"So we have accepted that the letter distribution programme is not working so well for the younger population."

The Deputy First Minister also spoke about the upcoming Euro 2020 fanzones in the city, with Glasgow not only hosting games at the tournament, but also a fanzone that will see 6,000 a day from June 11-July 11.

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The area will be ticketed and subject to physical distancing rules and Swinney stated that the zones would be heavily monitored to try and prevent the spread of Covid.

He said: "Those fan zones are going to be very regulated environments," he said. "So there will be significant constraints applied about who can get in and what testing has to be undertaken to enable that to be sustained.

"Combining that with what we do within individual localities to make sure we are taking all the necessary steps to supress the virus, I am confident we can achieve that, but we can only do that if we follow the sustained approach we have taken to make sure we keep the virus under control."

Nicola Sturgeon, said on Friday that Covid-19 case numbers in Glasgow remain “uncomfortably” high, driven by an outbreak of the Indian variant of the virus mainly concentrated in the city’s southside.

She said a decision would be made by Wednesday at the latest on whether the city can move to Level 2 on Saturday.

The Scottish Government has approved plans for up to 6,000 people per day to attend an outdoor fan zone in Glasgow Green over the 31 days of the Uefa Euro 2020 tournament beginning on June 11.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said there was “significant community transmission” of coronavirus in Glasgow hotspots.

He said: “In a few concentrated hotspots… we are seeing significant community transmission. “What we are seeing is it’s coming in in areas where there is a large, diverse community so therefore there is a probability the variant has come in from international travel."