Nicola Sturgeon: "Scotland - like the rest of the UK, Europe and the world - is currently in a precarious position"
Thursday 10 September 2020 18:08, UK
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says the return of fans to Scottish sports stadiums has been delayed until October 5 at the earliest due to a rise in coronavirus cases.
However, Saturday's Scottish Premiership test events - Aberdeen vs Kilmarnock and Ross County against Celtic - will go ahead as planned with 300 home fans in attendance.
Sturgeon says "further pilot events will be judged on a case-by-case basis" and that plans to allow larger crowds from Monday (September 14) will have to be shelved for at least a further three weeks, as they would risk further spread of coronavirus.
She said the decision to delay planned reopenings of venues, "means unfortunately spectators will not be able to return to sports stadia and other venues over the next three weeks", with a new indicative date given of October 5.
The decision also affects theatres, live music venues and indoor soft play facilities.
Sturgeon said that, given the rise in Covid-19 cases - which increased by 161 in the past 24 hours to 22,039 - putting these moves back is "the only responsible decision we can reach".
She added: "The pause in our routemap and the new restrictions I have outlined today are not welcome. I know that.
"The Scottish Government did not want to have to impose them but they are necessary.
"And they reflect the fact that Scotland - like the rest of the UK, Europe and the world - is currently in a precarious position."
But she insisted that the country was "in a much better position than in late March", saying prevalence of the virus was lower than then and that the rise in cases was "not as rapid" as earlier in the year.
"We still have grounds for cautious hope," said Sturgeon. "But we have no grounds for complacency."
Celtic captain Scott Brown hopes the first step to getting fans back into grounds in Scotland goes off without a hitch.
The Hoops' Premiership match against Ross County in Dingwall on Saturday has been chosen as a test event with 300 allowed in the Global Energy stadium.
However, the date for general phased reopening of stadia in the country has been moved back from Monday until October 5 at the earliest.
Brown said: "It will be good just getting fans back in. It's crucial that we get fans back into the stadium and that we start playing in front of them yet again.
"But we need to do it safely and so this is a little test for us and here's hoping it works well.
"It's hard to play in front of no fans, you can hear everyone chatting away and you can hear everyone shouting.
"For us, it's all about getting the fans back in as safe safely as possible and here's hoping we can do that very soon."
