Call to ‘ shut down’ Scotland- England border as death toll hits new high
A fresh call has been made to effectively shut the border between Scotland and Engl and, citing a recent study which showed half of new Covid- 19 strains responsible for Scotland’s second wave came from south of the border.
Scotland recorded its highest daily death toll of the coronavirus pandemic so far yester day.
The nat i o n r e c o r de d 9 3 deaths i n t he previous 24 hours – the highest number of daily deaths ever recorded, exceeding the daily high of 84 recorded on April 15 during the first wave.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described the number of daily deaths as “distressingly high” and warned they would remain so until overall case numbers started to decline again.
Across the UK there were 1 , 325 deaths at t r i buted t o Covid- 19 – the biggest figure reported on a single day since the pandemic began.
In a bid to bring the spread under c ontrol new measures were announced l ate o n Wedn e s d a y, mea n i n g that travellers entering Scotland from abroad will need to show a negative Covid- 19 test taken 72 hours before departure.
The system will be enforced by Border Force, which i s
responsible for the UK border. Border restrictions are a l r e a dy i n pl a c e b e t ween Scotland and England, with no non- essential travel permitted.
But policing of the rules has come under criticism for being “light touch” by Police Scotland.
Dr Thomas Christie Williams, a geneticist and clini cal l ecturer at Edinburgh University, has called for further enforcement i n practice despite logistical difficulties.
“We should shut the border with England for everything except essential travel,” he said.
"I think it’s something to seriously consider, to start checking people as they cross the border – to ask why they’re crossing and is their travel really essential.
“In Spain and Italy, for example, police can stop anyone to ask them for a valid reason for
travelling.” Borders are a matter for the UK government but some legal experts believe the Public Health ( Scotland) Act 2008 and the Coronavirus Act 2020 give the Scottish Government the power to do more.
Dr Williams cited a report submitted to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies ( Sage) in December, which indicates the second wave of Covi d - 1 9 i n S c o t l a nd was caused by new strains of the virus brought in from abroad and other parts of the UK.
Researchers analysed the spread of Covid- 19 lineages introduced to Scotland during the first wave and compares them with those responsible for the second wave.
They estimated that almost half ( 47 per cent) of the new Covid- 19 strains were introduced to Scotland from England.
Dr Williams added that quarantine periods should also be enforced after travel to Scotland and should be increased from 10 to 14 days.
“T h e way i n wh i c h we enforce quarantine has been pretty pathetic, we haven’t had any strict enforcement the way other countries have done,” he said.
"In New Zealand, for example, you get sent to a hotel for 14 days. In the UK there’s not really any enforcement. There are fines but it’s very hard to clamp down on people.”
A fast- spreading new variant of Covid- 19 was identified in the south- east of England before Christmas.
It has since made i ts way to Scotland despite a ban on non- essential travel, and now makes up almost half of cases in Scotland, Ms Sturgeon announced this week.
She said yesterday t hat a “four nations” approach will be taken to international travel.
“The risks of international travel are particularly acute at the moment as new strains of this virus emerge and as case numbers globally continue to increase.
“Indeed, that’s why it is – as of now – illegal for anyone to travel to or from Scotland unless it is for an essential purpose and I want to reiterate that point right now.”
The numbers were c onfirmed as Scotland recorded a total number of 2,309 new cases in the previous 24 hours.
The 1,530 people in hospital having tested positive for the virus is an increase of 63 from Thursday’s figure. This means that Scotland has now exceeded the peak seen in April last year, when Scotland had 1,520 coronavirus patients in hospital at any one time.
To date, 102 people are being treated in intensive care with recently confirmed Covid- 19, which is two more than the figure reported on Thursday.
Mssturgeonsaidthe93deaths would “undoubtedly include some people who died over the Christmas and New Year period” due to delays in registration because of the bank holidays.
But she said: “We do know that even when case numbers start to reduce … because of the incubation period, we still see an increasing number of hospitalisations and deaths.
“So from the case numbers we’re seeing right now, we are unfortunately going to see a significantnumberofpeopleneeding hospital and intensive care treatment in the weeksto come, and unfortunately a number of people dying from that.”
S cotland’s national clinical director, Pr ofessor Jason Leitch, described the death toll as “an astonishingly difficult number to both read out and to comprehend”.
He said: “I’m afraid the First Minister is right – it is going to get worse over the next little while potentially before it gets better.”