ScotlandPrime Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has announced nationwide lockdown for the rest of January due to the increase in corona virus cases.

She told the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, that “We have decided to introduce from midnight (0000 GMT Tuesday), for the duration of January, a legal requirement to stay at home, except for essential purposes.”

“This is similar to the lockdown of March last year.”

Sturgeon, the leader of the Pro-Independence Scottish National Party, said a new faster spreading variant of coronavirus, first identified in the UK in December had been a “massive blow” in the battle against the virus.

She stated that the evidence was “compelling” and “the new variant already accounts for almost half of all new cases in Scotland”.

“We are now seeing a steeply rising trend of infections and it is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March,” she said.

She also added that “If you look at the numbers, there is no question that we will have to take tougher measures and we will be announcing them in due course,”

Prime Minister Sturgeon told Scottish Members of Parliaments at Holyrood that the new vaccine rollout was “hugely positive” and it was “essential to speed up vaccination as fast as possible”.

To curb the spread of the virus, she noted that “even tougher restrictions are necessary.”