Fife will stay in level three lockdown restrictions, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced

The First Minister announced the decision for Fife to remain in lockdown level three at parliament this afternoon, after revealing that 11 local authorities will move down from level three to level four restrictions as of Friday.

Fife, however, will join six other local authorities in remaining at level three.

The news comes as NHS Fife records 42 news cases of Coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 392 in the past seven days.

Speaking at parliament today, Ms Sturgeon said: “There are currently 10 local authorities in level 3 - Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, and Perth and Kinross.

“7 of these areas will remain in level 3. These are Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, and Perth and Kinross.

“Obviously we will keep this under review but we have decided that a change of level would not be merited at this point.”

Speaking about the decision for Fife to remain in tier three, Alan Mitchell, chief executive of Fife Chamber of Commerce, said: "Every week in Tier 3 is another week when businesses in Fife that rely on the Festive trading period to sustain them will get closer to the financial precipice.They will be very upset, and rightly so, because the Scottish Government has never presented any evidence that demonstrates that unsafe business practices are a big contributor to the spread of Covid and yet it is businesses, especially hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses, that are always hit hard by restrictions.”

Councillors David Alexander and David Ross, Co-Leaders of Fife Council, said: “The decision that Fife is to remain in level 3 restrictions has been taken based on public health advice.

"Unfortunately the positivity rate in Fife has remained static for the past two weeks. This makes it even more important that everyone follows the public health guidance to help reduce the spread of the virus if we are to see a reduction in the restrictions that apply in Fife.”

Individually, the Labour group leader, Cllr David Ross added: "I do wonder whether the restrictions that are in place for level three are actually adequate for bringing it down.

"We're seeing pubs and restaurants hit and have to question: is it actually doing anything?"I'm hopeful we'll maybe go down to tier two the week before Christmas."The councillor has asked his constituents to stick to the rules to slow the spread of Covid-19.He added: "People will be going out to the shops more and it's important that they keep their distance and respect each other, and not get caught in a crush, because that's where things get transferred.”

Areas moving to level two are Inverclyde, Falkirk, Angus, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, and East Lothian.

Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders will be dropped down a level to level one.

Areas moving down from level four to level three are: East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian.

Level one areas will be Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles with two additions, Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders.

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.