A “CIRCUIT breaker” which could see a raft of tough new curbs introduced in Scotland for two weeks at a time to control the spread of coronavirus is being explored by the Scottish Government.

John Swinney told the Covid-19 Committee at Holyrood that the concept was under consideration, though no decision has been made on whether to introduce it.

He said some “detailed work” is being undertaken on such a move, which he described as a “more aggressive interruption of the development of the pandemic”.

A circuit-breaker lockdown may or may not see schools ordered to shut, the deputy first minister said.

Swinney, who is also the Education Secretary, told the committee: “Frankly the last thing I want to have to do is to close schools. We have gone to a great deal of effort with the support of staff, local authorities, parents and pupils to reopen our schools.

“Generally that process has gone well, attendance is high, there is very little evidence on in-school transmission of the virus, it is miniscule evidence of in-school transmission of the virus.”

Ministers are “constantly considering whether there is a need for us to take more or less action” to deal with coronavirus, he said, adding the suggestion of having “some form of circuit breaker in October” had come from expert scientists at the UK advisory group Sage.

Swinney said he would not describe this as a “specific proposition”, saying it was instead “more the raising of the possibility that if the pandemic continues to grow at an accelerating rate in the period going forward, there may be a necessity to take some of what I would describe as interruptive action to try to slow further and more aggressively the development of the pandemic”.

Pressed by the committee’s deputy convener Monica Lennon, Swinney said the measure was “being explored” following a suggestion from Sage.

“Monica Lennon is correct that the circuit breaker concept is being explored simply because we have a suggestion that that may be a necessary intervention from the thinking that comes out of Sage,” he said.

National clinical director Professor Jason Leitch also appeared before MSPs to discuss the possibility of such a measure.

He told the committee: “A circuit breaker is not the answer, the answer is whole population measures all the time until we get science to get us out the other end.

“A circuit breaker would just be a help on the way potentially.”

Leitch explained the general idea of a circuit breaker or “stay at home order” was based on “buying time” to drive down the rate of the virus spread to allow the authorities to prepare for winter.

He said: “Some modellers suggest you should do it repeatedly, so you would do two weeks, open for a period, then two weeks again, but that has implications for economy, implications for society, implications for schools.

“So it is a very difficult balance about whether we think this new iconic measure would be something we would recommend for Scotland.

“The decision-makers would then have to decide whether to do it or not.”

The First Minister later announced a further 640 new coronavirus cases had been recorded in Scotland in the 24 hours prior. Nicola Sturgeon also reported seven new virus deaths – the highest daily figure since June 17. This takes the total recorded under that measure to 2519.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has been urged to act to prevent a “winter of hell” for care home residents and their families by allowing more access.

Labour’s Lennon made the plea, as she revealed one 92-year-old woman had been driven to attempt suicide following coronavirus restrictions being put in place across Scotland’s care homes.