NO END IN SIGHT FOR XMAS TIERS
New fears that Scotland’s lockdown may last beyond next three weeks — and into spring
SCOTS faced grave uncertainty over the length of a new lockdown last night as Nicola Sturgeon admitted she had no idea how long it would last.
The First Minister was unable to give reassurance that the threeweek shutdown would end in the middle of January as planned.
With Scotland already facing an economic and social crisis from Covid restrictions, it raises the prospect of the country remaining in limbo for months.
Level 4 restrictions are being imposed in every mainland council area from Saturday to help keep the new variant of coronavirus ‘under control’.
The latest restrictions, which include the complete closure of cafes, bars, restaurants, hairdressers and nonessential shops, will initially be introduced for just under a month.
But Miss Sturgeon yesterday admitted that she could not say if they will be needed for a much longer period.
At the weekend, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested that Tier 4 l ockdown restrictions i mposed in London and most of the South-east of England may be needed for some months until the coronavirus vaccine is
rolled out. Asked yesterday if she also felt travel restrictions and higher tiers may be needed in Scotland for some months, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘The honest answer is that I don’t know at this stage.
‘I have tried all along when that is the honest answer to a question to give that answer. We are still waiting on further analysis of this new variant.
‘The more successful we can be over these next few weeks at suppressing it in Scotland perhaps – perhaps – the shorter the time that these restrictions will have to be in place.
‘But we have to see how things unfold in the next few weeks.
‘As I have tried to do for ten months now, whether some people like it or not, I will stand here regularly and take people through what we know, when we know it and what the implications of that are for the restrictions, whether that is Level 4 restrictions or the travel restrictions or any other aspects of how we are having to deal with that.’
The latest official figures yesterday showed a further 1,504 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Scotland, which was the second highest total on a single day since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The proportion of newly-tested patients who were positive was 6 per cent – well above a level which would indicate that the virus is under control.
Miss Sturgeon said that it was a significantly higher daily number of new cases than the country had seen for some time but suggested that the reported rise could be down to a processing backlog in the UK Lighthouse testing centres.
She said the decision to impose Level 4 restrictions in every mainland authority in Scotland from Boxing Day was ‘not taken lightly’ and was down to growing concern about the spread of the new variant of coronavirus, which may be 70 per cent more transmissible, according to experts.
The First Minister added: ‘The key lesson of the last ten months is that if we are complacent in the face of this virus, or if we act too slowly, or if we wait for all possible information before making decisions, the virus can run away from us very quickly – with very serious consequences.
‘So that is the context for the strong precautionary and preventative action we announced on Saturday.’ It is now estimated that the R number – the reproductive rate which shows the average number of people infected by someone who has coronavirus – is ‘hovering around one’.
However, if the suggestion from early analysis is correct and the new strain of the virus is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, it is estimated this could add 0.4 onto the R number.
In London and the South-east of England, it is thought that the vari ant strain of the virus could account for between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of all new cases.
Speaking at her media briefing yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘If we do nothing now we are likely to see more new infections in Scotland as a result of this variant – placing an even greater strain on our health service and unfortunately leading to more deaths.
‘But as things stand, with our lower prevalence in a relative sense, we still do have a chance of keeping this situation under control while the vaccination programme continues – and while we get case numbers back to very low levels again.
‘That is why we announced action on Saturday on two fronts: to stop more cases of this new variant of the virus from coming into Scotland and to stop it spreading further within the country.’
The First Minister urged people not to meet members of others households indoors on Christmas Day, despite the tightened restrictions announced on Saturday allowing a maximum of eight people aged 12 and over from three households to do so on December 25 only, instead of the five- day relaxation of rules for the festive season previously outlined.
The First Minister said the decisions announced on Saturday to restrict the meeting period over Christmas, to introduce a cross-Border travel ban and place all of mainland Scotland in the highest level of restrictions from Boxing Day were ‘horrible’.
She added: ‘But I know that the consequences of not acting now to stop this virus could be catastrophic. So I am genuinely sorry to have to do these things.
‘But believe me when I say they are necessary.’
In Scotland there are 1,078 patients in hospital who have tested positive for the virus, up 17 in 24 hours.
No deaths of people who first tested positive within the previous 28 days were recorded in the previous 24 hours, with this toll remaining at 4,283. This figure, however, tends to be artificially low following registration office closures at the weekend
Miss Sturgeon said failing to curb the new virus strain would ‘run the risk of cases running out of control in the early part of the New Year’.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith confirmed that there have been 18 cases of the new form of the virus detected in Scotland – although the true figure could be much higher.
Most of the reported cases are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health area, as well as a small number in Lanarkshire.
Dr Smith said: ‘I and others would feel this is quite an underestimate of the likely cases that there are i n Scotland, particularly because it is a sample of cases that are subject to this type of surveillance that goes through genomic sequencing.’
Meanwhile, the First Minister said that she does still ‘hope and at this stage expect’ that the Scottish parliament elections in May will be able to go ahead as scheduled, although she said legislation containing contingencies, including postponement, will be voted on by MSPs later this week.