On Monday she announced a new stay at home order across the Scottish mainland banning people from leaving their homes except for certain reasons. The SNP leader admitted the situation is “extremely serious” and warned the new more infectious coronavirus variant is “a massive blow”.
Boris Johnson introduced a third national lockdown for England on the same day.
Across England people have been instructed to remain home bar a few exceptions such as essential shopping, exercise and going to work if it can’t be done from home.
Following her announcement Ms Sturgeon tweeted about the latest situation in Scotland.
She commented: “Being back in lockdown is really hard to take for everyone, but it is necessary to slow down this new strain of the virus while we get people vaccinated.
“Please – for you own safety, that of your loved ones and of the whole country: Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives.”
However the first minister’s tweet received a mixed response from other social media users.
One critic commented: “What about the March lockdown, the autumn circuit breaker, the levels and restrictions on our lives for going on a whole year?
“All these things imposed by you and your government and we are back to square one!
READ MORE: Shielding Scotland: Who has to shield during lockdown?
Scotland’s islands, except for Skye, will stay in level three though this will remain under review.
Across Scotland between December 23 and 30 the average number of Covid cases per 100,000 increased by 65 percent.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, backed the lockdown but urged the SNP to provide more support for schools.
He commented: “Tougher restrictions are the last thing we want to see but the evidence shows worrying trends in both case numbers and hospital capacity, so we must all do what we can and stick to the new rules until the vaccine turns the tide against the virus.
“The answers from the SNP Government to Ruth Davidson MSP were not good enough on more support for pupils & schools, the need to increase testing, daily vaccinations figures & the urgent question of which key workers should stay home.
“We need more urgency with so much at stake.”
Monday saw the first Oxford University/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines being administered across the UK.
Britain is leading Europe in vaccines having vaccinated over a million people.
Mr Johnson has warned the coming weeks will be the “hardest yet” for the UK.
Across Britain another 58,784 coronavirus cases were recorded on Monday as well as 407 deaths within 28 days of receiving a positive Covid-19 test.
