FM: We must not squander our progress

BY VIVIENNE AITKEN Health Editor

THREE more Scots have died of coronavirus – the first deaths registered in five days – as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned: “Don’t squander the progress made.”

There were 10 new cases of the virus overnight from Monday and there are currently 885 people in hospital – a rise of 145 on the day before. There were also an additional nine people in intensive care.

The First Minister said: “After four consecutive days without any deaths being registered, news of any deaths, while not unexpected, is not what we want to hear.”

Asked if she regretted not moving to lockdown sooner, Sturgeon said: “All of these decisions weigh heavily on me. But there is not a lot of point in me wishing we had done things differently. We took decisions based on the best evidence and judgment we had at the time.

“We can’t wind the clock back but we can avoid winding it forward too quickly.”

Sturgeon added: “I don’t say this to depress anyone but I say it as a very loud reminder that the virus hasn’t gone away. It is just as infectious and just as dangerous as it ever was and it will come back hard if we let it.

“The results we are seeing now are as a result of the decisions and sacrifices we have made over the past 100 days. And the figures we will see in the future, in the second half of July and August and into autumn, will be the result of decisions we take now.”

And she begged: “Don’t squander the progress we have made.”