Council bosses have promised to get tougher on enforcing coronavirus rules to ensure the north-east does not get plunged into tougher restrictions.
Aberdeen co-leader Douglas Lumsden promised environmental health officers would look at what “extra enforcement” could be carried out to reinforce the rules of the second tier of government restrictions.
Mr Lumsden indicated council staff would be working with police to see what more could be been to combat rogue travellers from higher-level areas and people breaching rules against gathering indoors to escape the wintry weather.
The city and Aberdeenshire looked sure to be put under the more restrictive level 3 measures – which would have included a ban on travelling between the neighbouring council areas – before First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s weekly review.
Increased enforcement to keep north-east in level 2 restrictions
Conservative Aberdeen co-leader, Mr Lumsden, said: “We want to get the message out that people should be working from home if they can or not travelling if it’s not necessary, or gathering in households.
“We are going to be looking at any extra enforcement we can take, though some of that is really a police matter – so we will be reaching out to partners to do all we can to ensure people are sticking to the rules.
“We haven’t moved to level 3 but this is not a time to rejoice, as we aren’t out the woods yet with an upward climb in case numbers, which are still relatively high.
“The virus has not gone away and we are still in the middle of a pandemic – we have to do everything we can to try to get the numbers going down again.”
The national incident management team (IMT) had recommended Aberdeenshire be placed in the stricter bracket, but leadership of both north-east councils had made a case for the status quo continuing.
It was the second week running that concerns raised by the national IMT, widely reported to be pushing for tighter restrictions, have been assuaged in talks between government and the local authorities.
Public responsibility urged
Aberdeenshire Council leader, Andy Kille, said: “The chief executive Jim Savege and I had a productive meeting with Finance Secretary Kate Forbes on Saturday, where we put our case for Aberdeenshire remaining in level 2.
“We are glad the Scottish Government listened to us on this occasion and with the cooperation of every Aberdeenshire resident and business I am hopeful matters will improve soon.
“I would encourage all in Aberdeenshire to adhere to the Scottish Government and NHS guidance and restrictions in respect to Covid-19 – which we must redouble our efforts on.”
His deputy leader, Peter Argyle, added: “Along with everybody else I suspect, I think it’s quite surprising that this has been the outcome because there’s been a lot of pressure on numbers in Aberdeenshire.
“But when everything is fed into the machine and at the other end it comes out that we stay in this tier, then that’s a good thing.
“I’m very pleased in particular for the hospitality sector, which is really feeling the pressure at the moment, this will be a huge benefit there.”
The first minister told parliament the government remained “very concerned” about Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, reminding all in the north-east the threat of the more restrictive conditions remained.
“There appears to be a background increase in community transmission,” Nicola Sturgeon said.
“We did think very carefully about putting them to level 3 this week, but because there has been a slight decline in recent days we have decided to give more time to local authorities to work with public health experts locally to try and stem that increase more sustainably.”
Parliamentarians urged public vigilance through the festive period.
Aberdeen Central SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said: “With the Scottish Government already rolling out the vaccine, there is undoubtedly light at the end of the tunnel, but we are not out of the woods yet.”
