Britain will be tipped towards a deadly second wave of COVID-19 unless the government targets the virus in deprived areas, a community leader has warned.
– Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has defended the decision to impose new local lockdown restrictions on Glasgow and some surrounding areas, insisting it was “not an option” to do nothing.
The measures, which have been put in place for the next two weeks, mean people living in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire have been told not to visit other people’s homes.
Mr Sturgeon said she understood that people in the area were “frustrated” but urged them to see the move as a “wake-up call”.
“I know how difficult all this is. I hate having to take these decisions and you all hate the impact of them,” she tweeted.
“My plea is that we treat yesterday’s developments as a wake up call and take seriously our individual responsibilities to stop #COVID spreading.”
The new restrictions, which came into place from midnight on Tuesday, will be reviewed every seven days.
They were introduced after the latest daily figures showed 66 new positive coronavirus cases were recorded in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
– A total of 9,631 deaths were registered in England and Wales in the week ending 21 August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – 474 above the five-year average of 9,157.
It was the second week in a row that weekly deaths had been above the five-year average.
However, the ONS said the increase was not driven by Covid-19 deaths, which remain low.
Of the deaths registered in the week to 21 August, 138 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate – down very slightly from 139 in the previous week.
