TAKING customer contact details will become mandatory across Scotland's hospitality sector next week, Nicola Sturgeon announced today.
She made the announcement as cases linked to a coronavirus outbreak in Aberdeen reached 101.
Scottish Government guidance currently states pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants should collect customer details to allow contact tracing, but this will become law from Friday, August 14.
Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, the First Minister also announced an expansion of premises where face coverings will be mandatory.
READ MORE: Mandatory wearing of face coverings expanded — what you need to know
They are currently compulsory on public transport and in shops, and from August 14 this will be extended to "a range of indoor premises" including libraries, museums and places of worship.
The changes follow localised outbreaks in Scotland in recent weeks, including in Aberdeen where lockdown restrictions were reintroduced on Wednesday.
Sturgeon said a common factor in the rise in new coronavirus outbreaks across the world - including the Aberdeen cluster - is the hospitality sector, and settings such as pubs and restaurants are particularly susceptible to the virus.
She said the majority of such premises across Scotland have been complying with the guidance to note customers contact details, but some have not.
She said: "I now intend to make it mandatory for a range of settings, including hospitality businesses, to collect customer details."
Placing compliance on a "statutory footing", Sturgeon said, will help ensure test and protect can function as effectively as possible.
She said Police Scotland will enforce the measures if necessary.
A total of 101 cases have been confirmed in the Aberdeen cluster, an increase of 22 from Thursday, the First Minister said, with 313 close contacts traced.
Of the 43 new cases across Scotland in the past 24 hours, provisional figures indicate more than half, 27, were in the Grampian health board area, she added.
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