No prospect of ditching 2m rule
Nicola Sturgeon has played down the prospect of ditching the two metre social distancing rule as Covid-19 cases continue to “fall rapidly” in Scotland.
It came Scottish Secretary Alister Jack and Andrew Wilson, who headed up the SNP’S Growth Comission, led calls for the restriction to be relaxed.
Just three new deaths from coronavirus were recorded yesterday, while hospital cases continue to stabilise.
Ms Sturgeon admitted that infection numbers are “falling rapidly” in Scotland.
This has prompted calls from the hospitality sector for the two metre rule to be relaxed amid concerns that the measure will make a return to business for restaurants, cafes and bars impossible.
But Ms Sturgeon said: “It is simply not the case that you can go from two metres to one metre with no consequence and it’s straightforward - it’s not straightforward there are a lot of really difficult issues that have to be balanced there.
“Very few if any aspects of this can be seen isolation.”
The aim of the Scottish Government’s lockdown approach is to “eradicate” the virus in the community, but Ms Sturgeon said today this remains some way off.
“We are making really, really good progress in suppressing this virus,” she told the daily coronavirus briefing.
“Our case numbers are falling rapidly, those in hospital are falling, death numbers are thankfully falling rapidly.,
“We now have an R number that a few days ago might have been slightly higher than the rest of the UK, but now might be slightly lower because we are following a careful and cautious plan.
“If the lesson we take from that is just to throw that plan away and move too quickly we will regret that in a very short space of time.”
A total of 2,442 patients have now died after testing positive for coronavirus - a rise of three on Thursday.
A total of 15,709 people have tested positive for the virus north of the border, up by 27 from 15,682 the previous day.
There are 914 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a rise of five in 24 hours. Of these patients, 23 were in intensive care - up two.
Mr Jack said yesterday that the 2 metre rule should be halved as soon as it is safe to do so to help the tourism and hospitality sector.
“We’ve seen this happen without any bad consequences in other European countries,” he said. “For a lot of hospitality businesses they need 2m to become 1m when it is safe to do so to be economically viable.”
It was claimed yesterday that the hospitality trade in Scotland risks losing 40,000 jobs unless the two-metre social distancing rule is reduced to one metre.
Donald Macleod, the convener of the Glasgow licence forum, told BBC Radio Scotland, that his nightclub businesses, The Garage and Cathouse in Glasgow, will not reopen until the rule is reduced to zero, which he expects will be “September or October at the earliest”.
He added that two-thirds of Scotland’s hospitality establishments would not be able to reopen with a 2m rule.
China, Denmark and France are among the countries where a 1 metre social distancing limit is in place.