On true cost of lockdown
The brother of Jeremy Corbyn was led away by police as campaigners denounced the coronavirus lockdown in protests across Britain yesterday.
About 50 people gathered in London’s Hyde Park, holding placards with slogans including “Freedom is Essential”.
Piers Corbyn, brother of former Labour leader Jeremy, used a megaphone to tell onlookers the pandemic was part of a “pack of lies to brainwash you”.
He was placed in handcuffs and taken away after declining to leave when asked by police. At least six people were arrested at the event.
In Scotland, pockets of protesters and onlookers gathered in parks in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness.
Up to 100 people were at the Nelson Monument at Glasgow Green, some waving placards bearing slogans such as: “We shall not conform”.
A low-key police presence saw little interaction between officers and those present, with only a couple of people spoken to.
One woman yelled: “Nine weeks in the house? Scotland should wake up. I can’t see my grandchildren because of this rubbish and I have had enough.”
Around 15 protesters gathered at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh while in Dundee, a few dozen were at the city’s Balgay Park where one protester was both cheered and heckled as he used a megaphone to claim staying in lockdown was more “detrimental” than returning to normality.
An event scheduled for Kinbrae Park across the river in Newport-on-tay was a non-starter, with only dog walkers and a couple of police present.
A gathering at Glasgow’s Queen’s Park also drew little support. About 10 people attended the protest in Bught Park in Inverness. Online flyers advertising the protests said they were “peaceful mass gatherings”.
The advertisements claimed the events were organised by the UK Freedom Movement which has been linked to far-right groups. Figures linked to the British Freedom Movement denied any connection with the gatherings.
so you need to think about the social barriers to helping people deal with this effectively.”
A p a c ka g e of support is expected to be put in place by the Scottish government to minimise the financial, social and well- being impact of isolation. Scotland’s testing capacity will also be increased to 12,000 a day by mid- May to support the contact tracing push. However, the First Minister has admitted they will have to increase this further, to 15,500 tests a day for contact tracing to work.
The Scottish Government is also considering using an NHS England phone app which is being piloted on the Isle of Wight.
The NHSX app uses Bluetooth to detect when a person’s phone has been near another owned by someone reporting symptoms of Covid- 19, sending a notification to the user. However, the NHSX app is only effective if more than 60% of the population use it.
Ms Freeman said it may be used to “support” Scotland’s new contract tracing technology.
NHS England said it is working to ensure the NHSX app can be used across the UK.