The head of Perthshire Chamber of Commerce (PCC) has said many hospitality business owners in the region are hoping for the imminent removal of “unfair and Draconian” COVID restrictions on their industry.
PCC chief executive Vicki Unite was speaking after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced changes to national coronavirus measures last Tuesday.
During her 20 minute speech at Holyrood, Sturgeon announced changes to the rules on large outdoor gatherings and the COVID passport scheme at these events.
Capacity crowds are allowed to return to Scotland’s stadiums and large outdoor events are able to resume without physical distancing or capacity limits from yesterday, January 17.
However, other restrictions imposed during the festive break on the hospitality sector will be extended until at least next week.
At the end of the Christmas period, nightclubs were forced to close while bars and restaurants were ordered to operate with table service and social distancing measures once again.
It is hoped that these restrictions will be lifted on Monday, January 24 - subject to a review - with an update expected at Holyrood this week.
Perthshire Chamber chief executive Vicki Unite said the local hospitality industry is “still reeling” from the rules reinforced last month.
“It is good news that the current wave seems to have reached – or is near – its peak and it is good news for outdoor events companies that the restrictions [have been] lifted, but once again there is no good news for hospitality and retail, whose disastrous Christmas looks to be extending further into 2022,” she said.
“Hotels and restaurants are still reeling from a multitude of cancellations, following the government’s pre-Christmas announcement, and they are having to endure continued hardship well into January.
“The knock-on effect is felt painfully too by hospitality and retail workers and suppliers, some of whom have been laid-off or have had contracts cancelled.
“Hopefully the promised financial support is forthcoming, but given today’s disappointment this needs to be re-evaluated, and it needs to be done immediately.
“Businesses in these and associated sectors, are now looking at January 24 as the date that will signal the lifting of what many of them feel are unfair and draconian, remaining restrictions.
“Fingers crossed this will happen and we also hope there will be a clear timeline to enable employees to get back into town and city centre businesses before it’s too late.”
It comes as six more people in Perth and Kinross died as a result of conditions linked to coronavirus.
The National Records of Scotland office confirmed the residents passed away during the week of January 3-9 - the most in a seven-day period since six died in the last week of February last year.
A total of 314 individuals in the region have now died from the virus since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Despite the deaths, the latest Public Health Scotland (PHS) figures show that the COVID-19 infection rate in Perth and Kinross has began to drop once more.
In the week ending Sunday, January 11 the seven-day infection rate was 981.5 per 100,000 people after 1491 positive cases were recorded.
The rate for the previous week was 1868.9 per 100,000, with 2839 positive cases recorded.
The percentage of positive tests decreased from 26.6 per cent to 21.9 per cent during this two-week period.
