Due to the current surge in COVID-19 cases and concerns over the new Omicron variant of the virus, Scotland’s nightclubs will be closed for three weeks. The restriction will come into effect on the 27th of December.
Nightclubs in Scotland are to close for at least three weeks from 27 December https://t.co/K99UtEcOGJ
— BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) December 23, 2021
Public Health Scotland announced yesterday that there were 22,000 estimated cases of the Omicron variant as of December 19th, spurring on the decision to close nightclubs. It was originally intended for nightclubs to enforce 1 metre social distancing, however with the rapidly climbing case numbers, it seems wise to enforce temporary closures.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has stated, according to BBC News, that financial aid will be made available in order to keep nightclubs afloat during this time, and that they will have the option to stay open providing they cancel their typical proceedings and effectively operate as bars with physical distancing. Swinney said: “We consider that closure in regulations, combined with financial support, may reduce losses and help these businesses weather what we hope will be a short period until they are able to operate normally again.”
Despite the promise of funding to supplement the inevitable financial losses that these venues will incur, there has been much concern how this will set back nightclubs and music venues. The Scottish Conservatives said that the decision to close was “a further setback to a sector already on its knees”.
Gavin Stevenson, the vice-chair of the Nighttime Industries Association, said according to an article from The Herald: “Nightclubs just fundamentally are designed to be large capacity premises and unfortunately they need to have those numbers in to trade viably so we suspect the majority will now choose to close and take advantage of the closure grants.” He also said that nightclubs were already in a “very precarious financial position.”
In Scotland, nightclubs were only re-opened on the 9th of August, having been completely shut since March 2020.
Presently, no such restrictions have been enforced in England, however nightclubs and any venues with a capacity of more than 10,000 people are required to check the COVID status of any patrons over the age of 18. According to BBC News, The Nighttime Industries Assocation chief executive Michael Kill stated that “Vaccine passports will have a devastating impact on a sector already so bruised by the pandemic…The mixed public health messages this week that have been coming out of the government have arrived at the worst possible time – the pre-Christmas period is absolutely crucial for our sector. And now it is announced damaging vaccine passports are to be implemented.” The rules were put in place on the 15th of December.
