‘Don’t drop your guard’ warns First Minister
THE number of deaths from coronavirus has come down to below 10 over the past seven days. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the first deaths registered in four days, saying that three people had died in the past 24 hours.
That took the total to nine in the past seven days, whereas one week ago the number was 24 in seven days.
Sturgeon said the progress was real but warned the temptation to throw caution to wind must be resisted if we are not to risk the numbers rising.
She reminded people how in the early days of the outbreak small numbers quickly became large numbers as the virus cases increased exponentially.
As cases increase in Leicester in the Midlands in England, lockdown measures were re-imposed in the first localised lockdown in the UK.
Sturgeon said she was not ruling out similar localised measures in Scotland if necessary but said the goal was to drive the virus down and keep it down to avoid that being necessary.
The First Minister said there has been a “sustained and significant ongoing reduction”.
She compared the downward trend of recent weeks with the rising figures of March and early April, explaining: “Two weeks after the start of lockdown in early April, hospital admissions for the virus averaged more than 200 every single day.
“Two weeks after that, Covid deaths in Scotland, going by the wider National Records of Scotland data, were on average more than 90 every single day.
“To be in our current position with hospital admissions averaging just four a day, with consistently low numbers of new Covid cases and with such a sharp reduction in death rates, all of that is massive and it is very welcome progress.”
However, she warned that virus was still present and “still as dangerous”.
She urged the public: “Don’t squander the progress.”
The First Minister added: “It is suppressed but has not gone away.
“It will spread rapidly if we give it the opportunity. Please do not drop your guard, don’t become complacent and drift back to normal.”
As rules are relaxed, more shops and workplaces open and people go about their business more freely, Sturgeon said that comes with a risk of cases going up.
Should that happen, she said measures would be re-imposed.
The First Minister explained: “For the Scottish Government, that means we may still have to take some really tough and unpopular decisions in the weeks ahead, and will have to do so against the grain of what you might like. But we have to do that to protect the progress we have made.”
More details are expected on Thursday on further easing of lockdown to come into force on Friday and on Monday.
Sturgeon said she hopes to give more information on the two-metre social distancing rule and “whether it can be adapted”.
More details on the likelihood of “air bridges” for foreign travel is also expected.
Sturgeon gave the latest daily update, saying there were three deaths, taking the total to 2485.
There were 885 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, which was an increase of 145. However, Sturgeon said that was all in suspected cases.
There were 19 people in intensive care which was an increase on nine, also in suspected cases.
In the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area there were 204 people in hospital and the total cases since the outbreak began stands at 4853.