MPS dismiss idea a ‘stream of infection’ is coming in from south of Border
A top Scottish Government coronavirus adviser has warned that Scotland is “facing a stream of infection from England and Wales”.
Professor Devi Sridhar, who sits on the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 Advisory Group, said Scotland and Northern Ireland are seeking to drive virus cases down to zero – but England and Wales are behaving “like the rest of Europe”.
The latest daily Covid figures released yesterday show that there were 43 cases recorded north of the Border, a fall of eight, with no new deaths.
The academic’s comments came under fire from opposition leaders, who said recent outbreaks in Aberdeen and Orkney could not be put down to imported cases.
Prof Sridhar is chair of global public health at Edinburgh University, and has been an outspoken figure during the pandemic.
She apologised recently after suggesting recently that prounion supporters were antiscottish.
She states in a New York Times article: “Scotland and Northern Ireland have looked ahead at the coming winter and made a concerted plan to minimise community transmission to avoid a serious resurgence of the virus, by using the summer to drive cases as close to zero as possible and to reopen cautiously.
“But neither nation has control over its borders because they are parts of the United Kingdom.
“So both now face a stream of incoming infections from England and Wales, which are behaving more like the rest of Europe, as well as from people returningfromholidayabroad and not abiding by advice to isolate for 14 days.”
But the claims were dismissed by Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie.
He said: “It’s news to me that people from England and Wales were responsible for the outbreaks we’ve seen in Aberdeen, Orkney, Lanarkshire and Glasgow. It is unhelpful for Prof Sridhar to be feeding a divisive Nationalist narrative without scientific evidence to back it up.”
Scottish Conservative MSP Donaldcameronsaidthecomments were “deeply unhelpful” and have “no basis in fact”.
He added: “We have seen clusters emerge in various parts of Scotland but there is absolutely no evidence to suggest this was driven by people arriving from England.
“Nicola Sturgeon has already been reprimanded for misleading the public about the prevalence of the virus.
“Now one of her key advisers is stoking up the belief that infections from England are hampering Scotland’s fight against the pandemic.”
The UK government said: “We continue to respond swiftly to new outbreaks in all parts of the UK.”
The Scottish Government said that Prof Sridhar was independent and did not speak on its behalf.
A spokesman added: “We continue to work on a four nations basis to manage the risk of imported cases of Covid-19.”
The latest daily figures released yesterday mark another fall. It also means it is more than a month a since a deaths was recorded in Scotland for someone who tested positive for the virus. It means that the total number of deaths recorded under this measure remains at 2491.
Of the new cases, 14 are in the NHS Grampian area, though it is not clear how many are linked to the Aberdeen outbreak.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde recorded nine cases, NHS Lothian reported five and NHS Lanarkshire detected three.
The number of patients in hospital with a confirmed case is now 243, with three being treated in intensive care. Of those tested on Saturday, the new positive cases represent 1.1 per cent.
The total number of positive tests in Scotland is now 19,332.
Jobs cut as Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home faces £650k funding black hole due to Covid crisis
The Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home is facing £650,000 of losses this year alone and has been forced to cut 15 jobs due to the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on its fundraising activities.
The animal welfare charity, which receives no regular government funding, has had to stop all commercial operations and face-to-face community events.
Organisational changes include the permanent closure of its Stockbridge and Portobello charity shops, ending the “pet boarding” service for people going on short travel breaks and a restructure across its fundraising, communications, business support and animal care teams.
Despite furloughing almost half of its 65 staff to get through the short-term
Jamie Mckenzie