Scotland should close borders to beat Covid

Lock down without lock out is only a half measure in controlling Covid-19.

Over 100,000 coronavirus deaths have now been recorded. The UK has a death rate of 1471 per million of population. Only Belgium and Slovenia have higher rates and even the US with its much-criticised handling of the epidemic has a lower rate than the UK.

Regrettably the UK government’s approach to controlling the virus is not working and alternative or additional measures should be considered. UK governments have instituted measures to control the movement of people in the UK but have done little to control the entry of people into the UK, in fact some 4,000,000 people have entered the country from all corners of the world bringing the virus and its variants with them.

Incomers are requested to self-isolate but as far as I can ascertain no effort has been made to find out if they are doing so. The government's action can be compared to attempting to control the heating in the house and leaving all the windows and doors open.

Being an island nation, it is possible to close our borders as has been successfully done in Australia and New Zealand with the result that the total number of death sin Australiaand new zealand is less than the daily number of deaths in the UK.

The death rate per million of population in Australia is 1/40th that experienced in the UK.

These figures clearly demonstrate that we should now close our borders to control the virus. (DR) JOHN BENNETT Mortonhall Road, Edinburgh