A QUICKER WAY OUT OF LOCKDOWN

■ Exit could begin in weeks, suggests Sturgeon adviser ■ Tories demand route map and aid for businesses

LOCKDOWN restrictions may start to be eased within weeks following evidence the coronavirus vaccine is reducing the death rate.

Professor Jason Leitch, the Scottish Government’s national clinical director, yesterday said that positive news on the jab preventing fatalities could mean some curbs can be eased.

But he warned that parts of the economy will be reopened only after schools and family contact are put first.

Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said she will take a ‘cautious’ approach when she unveils her route map out of lockdown next week – and warned that moving too quickly could lead to another lockdown next winter.

It comes as the Scottish Tories today release a report with proposals for ending lockdown – and call for more financial support for businesses hit hard by the curbs.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, a member of the First Minister’s Covid advisory group, has already backed lifting lockdown restrictions because of the positive signs the vaccination is starting to prevent deaths.

He told MPs: ‘If you’re driven by the data and not by dates, right now you should be looking at earlier unlocking.’

However, Professor Leitch said caution is needed to ensure restrictions are not lifted too soon, adding that the order of priority will be ‘kids first, families next, then the economy’.

‘The numbers are looking very good’

Asked on BBC Radio Scotland about Professor Woolhouse’s comments, Professor Leitch said: ‘Mark’s evidence was good, the only challenges there is, earlier than what?

‘We haven’t given dates and we’ve done that quite deliberately because we just aren’t yet sure about vaccine progress and vaccine transmission reduction.

‘Now if that goes well, if the care home data [on deaths] is reproduced in the next few weeks across the over-80s in the community, then the over-70s in the community, then, yes, we will be able to advise the First Minister that unlocking can happen at this gradual rate.’

Miss Sturgeon will unveil her route map out of lockdown at Holyrood on Tuesday. But it will not include specific dates for lifting different restrictions and will instead focus on what progress needs to be made on key public health data before action is taken.

Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon warned the approach taken will be ‘deliberately quite cautious’ because she wants this lockdown to be ‘the last one we need’.

She said: ‘That means we need to make our recovery not just as quick as possible but, perhaps more importantly, as sustainable as possible, so that we can keep going in the right direction.’

Miss Sturgeon said caution is needed because experience shows that high prevalence means the virus can run out of control, and also because of any new variant.

Families were warned changes allowing them to meet again are likely to be relatively limited.

Miss Sturgeon said travel curbs may be ‘one of the most important protections we’ve got to keep the virus low’, which could prevent families who live in different council areas or other parts of the UK from reuniting. Asked by the Mail to expand on his comments yesterday, Professor Woolhouse, who is professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said that most epidemiologists are in favour of a ‘datadriven exit from lockdown’.

He added: ‘So the point I was making at Select Committee was this: if “data driven” means holding back if the numbers aren’t looking good, then surely it must also mean going faster if the numbers are looking good.

‘And, right now, the numbers are looking very good indeed.’

The Scottish Conservatives will today release a report with a series of proposals for the route out of lockdown. It will call for the new framework to set out how progress with key milestones in the vaccine rollout will allow lockdown restrictions to be eased.

It will also call for businesses to be given clarity on what restrictions are likely to be needed in the longer term, even after the vaccination programme is completed.

Writing in today’s Scottish Daily Mail, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: ‘We are now in a position to look at how we gradually ease restrictions to exit the second lockdown, reopen the economy and return our lives to normality.

‘The Scottish people need hope. They need certainty. They need to see a plan.’

WITH the coronavirus death rate in decline, there’s every reason to hope the worst of the pandemic is over.

And yet all the indications are that an early escape from lockdown and a return to full normality remain a distant prospect.

Even with the vaccination drive well under way, tough restrictions are still in place – and show no sign of being eased in the immediate future.

Tory leader Douglas Ross, writing in today’s Mail, is right to point out that we need not only an escape route, but also an idea of the destination.

How much longer must we abide by draconian curbs on our lives; when will social distancing end; when will offices, pubs and restaurants reopen?

There is bound to be uncertainty over exactly what lies ahead, and of course caution is required as we attempt to put this nightmarish period behind us.

Nicola Sturgeon has said data is more important than dates when setting milestones for our exit from lockdown.

But one of her own advisers has said that using this yardstick, there is no barrier to considering the lifting of restrictions now.

And Scotland’s national clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, agrees that this could happen within weeks, now that the number of Covid deaths has begun to fall.

The First Minister is due to unveil her route map out of lockdown on Tuesday – but we’re told it will not include dates. Instead it will set out what progress needs to be made before any easements can happen.

While no one disputes that the scientific advice has to be heeded, there must be a detailed strategy for unlocking the economy.

As furlough nears its end, businesses need to be able to plan – a document that fails to spell out when they can resume trading is worthless to them.

If ministers get it right, the dividends will help to bolster the NHS: its health – and indeed the health of the nation – depend on economic revival.

The suspension of state education must also draw to a close as soon as possible.

Only a fraction of pupils will go back to the classroom next week, with the rest facing weeks of remote learning – many without laptops or tablet devices.

An educated workforce is also pivotal to recovering from Covid – a disease which threatens to limit the life chances of thousands of children.

Now that the vaccine is helping to save lives, it’s time to rescue our paralysed economy before it suffers yet more irrevocable damage.