NICOLA STURGEON is under pressure to answer questions on what support workers will receive after the Scottish government announced stricter measures to help contain coronavirus. 

The First Minister told Holyrood today that pubs, restaurants and cafes in most of Scotland will be barred from selling alcohol indoors for more than two weeks. 

Five health board areas – Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire & Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley – face stricter restrictions over the same period, with pubs and licensed cafes serving only takeaway customers and other indoor venues such as pool and bingo halls closing entirely.

Residents of the areas, which cover about 70 per cent of Scotland’s population, have also been asked to avoid public transport unless absolutely necessary. 

The measures come into force at 6pm on Friday and will last until October 25.

The First Minister warned that, without the tighter restrictions, Scotland would risk “returning to the peak level of infection by the end of the month.”

The SNP leader apologised for the “significant impact on many premises” and announced a £40 million fund to help affected businesses.

But Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard urged her to consider alternatives, warning the “hospitality sector is not Sodom and Gomorrah and should not be treated as such.”

Rather than a blanket shutdown, Mr Leonard urged the government to consider closing down only those businesses that are failing to comply with guidance.

Trade union leaders also warned that the government is in danger of “losing the confidence of the public.”

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer claimed that the current prevalence of the virus would have triggered much stricter measures, including the closure of schools, earlier in the year.