Scotland ‘in a dangerous place’ amid Covid rises
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated rules around the number of people allowed to meet at social gatherings could be tightened like in England as she said Scotland was in a “very dangerous place”.
The UK government has restricted meetings in England to just six people.
Ms Sturgeon said the rolling average of new positive cases had trebled in the past few weeks amid further warning soft he potential of a second lockdown.
Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland is in a “very dangerous place” amid further warnings of the potential of a second lockdown as cases continue to rise across the country.
The First Minister indicated rules around the number of people allowed to meet as part of social gatherings could be tightened along similar lines to the move by the UK government, which restricted meetings in England to just six people.
She also provided the clearest indication yet that the return of fans to football and other sports stadiums is likely to be delayed ahead of its initial planned opening on Monday 14 September.
Indicating restrictions are unlikely to be loosened during today’s three-week review of Covid-19 measures, Ms Sturgeon said it was possible they could even be tightened.
The First Minister, speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing, said the rolling average of new positive cases had trebled in the last few weeks and cases were doubling every two or three weeks.
She added the data showed a“very definite increase” but assured the public it is not at the same rate it was in March and April when cases were doubling every two or three days.
A total of 159 new cases were recorded in Scotland yesterday, with no new deaths registered, with a testing positivity rate of 1.9 per cent, down from 2.3 per cent on Tuesday.
Of the new cases, 63 were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 29 in Lothian, 19 in Lanarkshire and ten in Forth Valley.
Ms Sturgeon said: “We are of course trying to allow economic activity, as much of it as possible, to take place as safely as possible and we do that because of the other harms that happen if economic activity cannot take place.
“But if the virus runs out of control again, we will face restrictions that are in themselves deeply damaging to the economy.
“The b est thing we can do right now not just for health but for the long-term good of the economy is suppress Covid as far as we possibly can.
“It is not an exaggeration to say Scotland is currently at a very dangerous point, so too is the UK as a whole [and] many other countries across the world.
“We can see from the level of cases in countries like Spain and France that the current increase in cases could very easily continue and also start to translate into serious illness and deaths if we are not very careful.”
Ms Sturgeon said she would not say a second lockdown was likely but also refused to rule out the possibility of a return to the restrictions experienced at the beginning of the pandemic.
She said that would “not be credible” and reiterated the requirement for i nd iv i duals and the government to do all they can to avoid “slipping into the mindset” that a second wave and second national lockdown is inevitable.
She added: “If we don’t want to lock ourselves down again, we all have to go through these really in convenient but necessary things to try to keep it under control and I’m afraid it is as simple as that.”
The First Minister said full details of what might change in Scotland in terms of C ovid -19 me asures would be announced to MSPS in Holyrood today, but repeated earlier indications that the restrictions around social gatherings may change.
She said :“We are now about to welcome students back to colleges and universities.
“That is, in so many ways not just a welcome step but a necessary step for the wellbeing of our young people – but it is also a risky development.
“In fact, we cannot rule out the need to make changes to the number of people allowed to gather together like those announced for England last night.”