Police will be able to enforce lockdown measures within workplaces, Nicola Sturgeon confirms

Police will now be able to enforce lockdown measures within workplaces, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

In her daily coronavirus response briefing, the First Minister said that amendments have been made to regulations on gatherings, and that these would allow officers to enforce social distancing in workplaces that remain open.

All businesses must take reasonable measures to ensure that workers are 2 metres apart from each other.

Ms Sturgeon said that police will not be “routinely patrolling office blocks”, but that it was her hope that they would use “dialogue” to enforce the laws.

The First Minister added that the new regulations would see livestock markets and money advice firms to continue to operate.

Holiday accommodation services will also be allowed to continue their work, taking bookings online or over the phone for future dates, not within the lockdown period.

The First Minister stressed that a timeline for the end of the current measures was not yet known.

A total of 985 patients have now died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, with 70 recorded deaths in the past 24 hours.

8,672 people have now tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 222 from 8,450 the day before.

There are 166 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, a decrease of three on Monday.

There are 1,866 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, up from 1,809 yesterday.

Ms Sturgeon said the hospital figures appear to be stabilising and numbers of people in intensive care appear to be reducing.

On the economic impact of the pandemic and referencing figures reported on Tuesday that show a possible contraction of 33% in the Scottish economy, the First Minister said: “Fundamentally, we recognise that in order to protect public health the Government is making extraordinary demands on businesses.

“We appreciate that the onus is on government to equally do extraordinary things and provide extraordinary support for businesses.”

The First Minister also said there would be a “significant increase” in the number of people out of work, which will not be reflected in the labour market statistics published on Tuesday.

“Dealing with this public health emergency has, in itself, created an economic emergency,” she said.

“It estimates Scotland’s economic output could fall by a third during this process of social distancing, broadly in line with last week’s projections for the UK as a whole from the OBR.”

Ms Sturgeon also said the health of the economy must be a factor in the decision to cease the lockdown measures, although she said that damage to the economy alone is not enough to open the country again.

“The health of the economy is one of the things we must consider as we think about how to emerge from this period of lockdown. The plans we will publish this week will set out some of the factors we will have to weigh up.”

She added: “The economic harm being caused by this virus is not in itself a reason to come out of lockdown early.”