Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 20 January 2021
The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No 10) Regulations 2021 introduce the requirement that a person should not leave their home unless they have a reasonable excuse for doing so. That requirement is now in place in all four United Kingdom nations and is supported by all clinicians who are advising Government and, indeed, by the medical community as a whole. It is a necessary part of bringing the new strain of the virus under control, preventing our health service from being overwhelmed and, ultimately, reducing the number of infections to a level at which we can consider lifting the restrictions.
As the First Minister has set out, there are some encouraging early signs that the measures are beginning to have an effect in Scotland, but we know that it can take a number of weeks for the measures that we as a country take to feed through into the number of cases and the number of people in hospital. We need to stay the course and see this through. We should not throw away the hard-won progress that we are making, as Ms Ballantyne would have us do.
The tragic reality is that the virus preys on social contact. It spreads when people come together. The safest thing that people can do when levels of the virus are high, as they are at present, is to stay in their home as much as they can. That is what the science shows. That is what the evidence that is published regularly by all Governments in the UK shows. It is reckless of Ms Ballantyne to suggest otherwise. Indeed, some might say that it is hypocritical, given that she appears to be following the advice herself by contributing to these proceedings remotely.
We recognise that the closure of places of worship is a sensitive issue. Communal worship provides people with guidance, support, relief and hope at a time when those qualities are needed most.