Nicola Sturgeon Covid update RECAP: First Minister to address MSPs
and live on Freeview channel 276
Ms Sturgeon said that the Scottish Government may be “close to” scrapping the requirement for secondary school pupils to wear face coverings.
Following her update, she addressed the Sue Gray report and accused the Prime Minister of “seriously and serially” misleading the House of Commons.
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Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of spending all of his time "saving his own skin" after a report on lockdown parties in No 10 blamed a "failure of leadership".
The SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has also called on the PM to resign despite Deputy PM Dominic Raab said Tory MPs "overwhelmingly" supported Mr Johnson.
You can recap on the events of the day by reading our blog.
Politics RECAP: Pressure mounts on Boris Johnson over Sue Gray report | Nicola Sturgeon to give Covid update
Boris Johnson’s spokesman refuses to commit to revealing whether the Prime Minister is fined by the police for breaking lockdown laws.
Levelling-up plans will “change the economic geography of the country”, Michael Gove has told a Cabinet meeting.
A Downing Street spokesman said Boris Johnson told Cabinet ministers on Tuesday that levelling up was “a great moral mission that has the potential for fantastic economic benefit”, ahead of the expected release of a white paper on the policy this week.
The spokesman said: “Levelling up Secretary Michael Gove said the aim of levelling up was to change the economic geography of the country and that the white paper set out the tools needed to achieve this, including investment in education and skills and further devolution of powers outside of Westminster.”
Mr Johnson added that “the White Paper would mark a significant milestone in setting out the Government’s vision for the country, building on the work already achieved and making it clear to the public that we have a plan in place to deliver on the people’s priorities,” the spokesman said.
Long waits at accident and emergency (A&E) departments in Scotland continue to put patient safety at “serious risk”, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned.
The public may never be told if Boris Johnson is fined for breaches of coronavirus rules at No 10 parties, Downing Street indicated.
Officials insisted it would be a matter for Scotland Yard to decide whether to name individuals who are hit with fixed penalty notices in the partygate investigation – but police guidelines state they would not routinely be identified.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab insisted that “justice must be done and seen to be done”, but No 10 refused to guarantee that perpetrators would be identified.
You can watch the First Minister’s Covid Update on Scottish Parliament TV.
Nicola Sturgeon announced that 7565 positive cases were reported yesterday, through PCR and lateral flow tests.
1177 people were in hospital with Covid yesterday, which is 30 fewer than the day before.
She said there were 29 people in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19.
Sadly, there have been 30 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive.
Sturgeon said that case numbers remain high. She noted that the significant fall in cases, which occurred in the first three weeks of January, has levelled off.
There have been 26 confirmed cases of the BA.2 subvariant in Scotland, and this number is expected to rise.
Nicola Sturgeon said: “At the moment, therefore, the BA.2 variant is not a cause for any alarm or change in approach, but it does warrant further study”.