The Scottish Government has made a £40 million fund available to support the hospitality industry as new lockdown restrictions will come into effect tomorrow.

Under the new rules, all indoor pubs, restaurants and cafes across the central belt will close for the next two weeks in a bid to bring the number of confirmed cases down as numbers surged past the 1000-a-day mark yesterday. 

READ MORE: Glasgow pub owners blast new restrictions

Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley face tougher hospitality rules imposed than other parts of the country as the central belt recorded the highest amount of cases in recent weeks.

Industry bosses in Glasgow have since warned the hospitality ban will be "devastating" for city businesses as they argued the sector is falling victim to the pandemic.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Pubs and restaurant to shut for two weeks from Friday

Speaking yesterday evening on STV Scotland Tonight, Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced a £40 million support fund for the Scottish hospitality sector as he recognised "the degree of concern and anxiety there will be within hospitality". 

He said: "We’ve put in place today a £40 million fund, which we’ve had to work very hard to put together because we’ve been given no additional money from the UK Government to have all the borrowing powers and the financial flexibility; we’ve had to dip into our own resources [and] change our priorities, to get £40 million available to support the hospitality sector.

"I appreciate and understand the degree of concern and anxiety there will be within hospitality.

"We’ve taken a little bit of time to ensure that we can engage properly and fully and constructively with the sector to identify how we can best target that money to support the sector to get through what is going to be a difficult couple of weeks.

"Iwe can do that, then hopefully by the end of the month we’ll be in a stronger place where the virus is more suppressed and hospitality can be able to resume its activities, but it does need a huge amount of engagement and participation from the sector."

Pubs and restaurants outside of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, Forth Valley, Lanarkshire and Lothian health boards will be forced to stop selling alcohol after midnight on Saturday, October 9 for 16 days.

Pubs and restaurants are to close completely for the same period. Unlicensed cafes can stay open.