Pubs required to take customer details after virus outbreak

Pubs and other venues will be required to collect customer details from next Friday, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister said the mandatory requirement will be placed on a “statutory footing” and will help ensure test and protect can function as effectively as possible.

Speaking at the daily briefing in Edinburgh, she said businesses should be collecting contact details, asking people to pre-book tables and there should be no queues.

Sturgeon also said the Scottish Government will issue new statutory guidance related to indoor hospitality to ensure greater compliance with coronavirus measures, to take effect from next Friday.

Police Scotland will enforce the measures if necessary.

The news follows an outbreak of coronavirus in Aberdeen where a lockdown has been reimposed, with 101 new cases of the virus confirmed.

Eight Aberdeen FC players visited a bar in the city centre at the weekend, which led to two of them testing positive for Covid-19 and six others having to self-isolate.

As a result, the team’s Premiership match at St Johnstone on Saturday has now been postponed.

Sturgeon said a common factor in the rise in coronavirus outbreaks across the world is a link to hospitality.

She said settings like pubs and restaurants are particularly susceptible to the virus.

While she said the majority of businesses had complied with coronavirus measures imposed on hospitality, she said “it is clear there are some businesses where that has not been the case”.

The First Minister added that businesses should not wait for new statutory measures to come into place before complying with Scottish Government advice.

People should not be standing at the bar to watch football, she added, and there should be no background music to prevent shouting and any increased risk of transmission.

Sturgeon said that while new mandatory measures being introduced are “really restrictive,” they are there because they are necessary.

She said: “We see in Aberdeen right now including the situation with the football club how quickly this virus spreads”