IS SECOND LOCKDOWN LOOMING?
++Deaths and infections soar to two-month high ++ 1.1m Scots hit by new restrictions ++ Boris limits gatherings to six people++
SCOTLAND has suffered its deadliest day in more than two months as cases of Covid-19 continue to soar across the country.
Nicola Sturgeon yesterday reported that three people had died from coronavirus on Monday, the highest number of fatalities since June 30.
At least one new case was found in ‘every mainland health board area’, with 176 Scots testing positive.
The news comes as Boris Johnson is set to outlaw gatherings of more than six people in a bid to halt a second wave of coronavirus.
The Prime Minister will today warn it is ‘critical’ to stop a recent surge in cases running out of control.
From Monday, gatherings of more than six people will be forbidden in England, regardless of whether they are indoors or outdoors – down from the current limit of 30.
In Scotland, the current limit is eight people from three households.
Yesterday it was announced a further 30 people had died from coronavirus across the UK.
Mr Johnson had previously said he was hoping for a ‘significant return to normality’ by Christmas.
However, John Edmunds, a member of the UK Government’s Sage advice group, has warned that this is extremely unlikely – putting a large family Christmas at risk.
Speaking to ITV, he said: ‘The epidemic continues to increase and then we have Christmas – and that is difficult. What is Christmas? Well,
it’s meeting with your family very close. Restaurants and pubs and stuff like that. It’s all high risk and it’s all indoors.’
Scotland’s death toll has now reached 2,499, while six people are in intensive care and growing numbers have been admitted to hospital.
On Monday, fresh restrictions were imposed on Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire and existing measures were continued in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire for at least a further seven days.
The measures prohibit 1.1million people from visiting other households in these areas and also from visiting homes in other local authorities.
The First Minister said the ‘really unwelcome’ decision to impose more lockdown restrictions was a ‘proportionate’ response to rising coronavirus cases.
However, Miss Sturgeon is facing fresh calls to lock down bars and restaurants after health board chiefs revealed that the indoor venues were significantly contributing to the rise of cases in Glasgow.
Dr Linda de Caestecker, director of public health for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said the increasing spread of the virus in the area was ‘often due to house parties but some also relate to visits to bars and restaurants’.
She said that the highest rate was in West Dunbartonshire ‘where many cases relate to family gatherings and parties’. However, she added that the ‘next highest rate is in Glasgow, where more cases are associated with visits to bars and restaurants’.
Yesterday Miss Sturgeon revealed that 176 people had tested positive for coronavirus in 24 hours. Of the cases, 91 were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, 32 in Lanarkshire, 16 in Lothian and eight in Ayrshire in Arran.
She added: ‘It is worth me stressing that we have positive cases reported today in every mainland health board area.’
Six people remain in intensive care, while 267 patients are in hospital – a rise of 11 from Sunday.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I am also very sad to report that in the past 24 hours, three deaths have been registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days.
‘Today is the first occasion on which three deaths have been reported in our daily figures since June 30.’
On Thursday, Miss Sturgeon is set to give her latest update on the easing of lockdown restrictions but it is unlikely that any measures will be lifted from next week.
She said: ‘When we do our latest three-weekly review on Thursday we may well not be able to go ahead with any further easing of restrictions.’
The First Minister added that gatherings in people’s homes are the biggest source of coronavirus spreading in the West of Scotland.
She said: ‘They’re also a setting in which older and more vulnerable people are often most at risk because older and more vulnerable people are perhaps more likely to socialise at home, rather than visit pubs and restaurants.
‘As a result, our restrictions focus on meetings in people’s houses.
‘However, we know some transmission is taking place in pubs and restaurants and so we will also keep that under close review.’
Miss Sturgeon has insisted she does not want to see businesses close again and warned that many firms are still ‘not properly trading’ and ‘operating under restrictions’. She warned that forcing the country into another lockdown could have consequences for families across Scotland.
She said: ‘I don’t want to have to go backwards and close hospitality again. The economy is suffering here and we can’t lose sight of that. An economic catastrophe causes an impact in terms of lives, illness and other consequences too.’
Miss Sturgeon has urged customers to be responsible and to avoid pub crawls and to stay away from busy places.
She said: ‘It really does make a difference to your safety and also to the safety of those around you.
‘This is an area that we know is hard to regulate and we don’t want to have to create new rules or laws but there is clearly a responsibility for individuals here.
‘The hospitality sector has reopened and we want people to support the sector.
‘But we are still living in a global pandemic. That pandemic is now accelerating again across the country. So you should not be socialising in the same way as you were before the pandemic.’
She also criticised the ‘really dangerous delusion’ that rising numbers of cases among younger people should not be a concern.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘If transmission becomes established in the younger population, it will eventually reach the older and more vulnerable population. So to younger people, please think about your loved ones as well as yourselves.’
‘Pandemic is now accelerating’
IN peak lockdown, the coronavirus death toll rose on a daily basis. For several weeks, we’ve become accustomed to zero fatalities.
Yesterday we learned Covid-related deaths had reached their highest level in more than two months.
Those deaths are tragedies for the families affected. But the number is comparatively low, while the rise in cases is happening among younger age groups.
They’re far less likely to suffer severe symptoms, though the First Minister is right to warn they can still spread the virus.
Yet while the increase is undoubtedly concerning, there are only six Covid patients in intensive care.
The official data shows 267 patients are in hospital with confirmed Covid-19. But that number includes people who are no longer receiving treatment for the virus.
Yet more than a million Scots are now banned from meeting other households indoors. And there are indications that those localised lockdowns in the West of Scotland will be stepped up a gear.
Nicola Sturgeon is right to warn against complacency over an illness that remains a clear and present danger.
But Scotland in September 2020 is very different from the Scotland of the early days of full lockdown, six months ago.
Face coverings are commonplace, schools have reopened, and compliance with public health guidelines is high.
We’re learning to live with Covid, but it would be easy to undo the enormous advances of recent months.
Letting our guard down is unthinkable when the virus is still claiming lives. But a lurch back to lockdown across the board would inflict irreparable harm on the economy.
Risk aversion is an understandable response to a pandemic that led to thousands of deaths in Scotland. But we can’t allow the virus to place any further constraint on our lives.
Businesses are dying, offices lie empty, trains are deserted, and hospital waiting lists grow.
Containing Covid has come at an extremely high price. As furlough comes to an end, the dole queues will lengthen. We can’t afford to hit the pause button again without sending the economy into a further tail-spin.
Ministers should focus on helping us to coexist with Covid.
Coronavirus has already wrought untold devastation – but we cannot allow it to do any more damage.