Scots get ‘ loudest warning yet Covid battle is not over’
● First Minister hopes lockdown in Aberdeen will be national wake-up call
New restrictions on people living in Aberdeen should be seen as the “biggest, loudest” warning that Scotland’s battle against Covid-19 is not over, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, the First Minister said the lockdown meant her “fears have been realised” about a resurgence of the disease.
The restrictions include a fivemile travel limit for everyone within Aberdeen, alongside the closure of all pubs, bars and restaurants in the city from 5pm yesterday.
The restrictions are set to last for at least seven days, with the Scottish Government stating they would be reviewed next week but giving no guarantee they would not last longer.
Repeating her plea to look at re-emerging infections worldwide, Ms Sturgeon said: “It can happen here and it is happening here in Aberdeen so please take this as the biggest, loudest warning yet that this virus is still out there.
“In terms of my fears, I’m standing up here today doing what I didn’t have to do which is to reimpose restrictions on a part of a country, so in that sense, yes, my fears have been realised. What I would say is where we
have reached today with Aberdeen should be the biggest wake-up call in this pandemic since the early days of it. It hasn’t gone away. I so wish it had gone away.”
Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, said he would be “surprised” if the local lockdown was lifted after just a week.
He said: “I would be really rather surprised if we had the whole thing wrapped up in seven days, based on my experience of investigating outbreaks. This is obviously quite a complicated outbreak, it’s not a straightforward case of one place, all the people went there, got infected, end of story. It’s more complicated than that.
“So it’s going to take a bit of time. Clearly it’s good that there will be a review in seven days, but I would be very surprised if that review said the thing’s now done and dusted and everything can go back to normal.”
Prof Pennington added that a similar lockdown could happen anywhere in Scotland.
He said: “It could happen anywhere. It’s embarrassing it’s happened in Aberdeen, which is a very well-run place, but I think there’s a bit of lockdown fatigue among the younger people and whether that had much to do with the outbreak I don’t know.
“The planners will be hoping there won’t be any [more outbreaks], and there’s no reason to suppose there will be any, except that we know that pub and bars are good places for the virus to get about in.
“I’m not surprised that we have had a pub and restaurant outbreak and maybe we were being just a little bit too optimistic.”
Speaking at her daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon added that the return of children to school would be prioritised ahead of any reopening of pubs in the area.
She said: “This is about being more precautionary elsewhere in order that we stamp on transmission so children’s return to school is not compromised.
“If it is a choice between hospitality and schools, we are choosing schools right now.
“That is because we know it is in the interests of the wellbeing of young people to get them back into education. This is about protecting that, not having that compromised which may happen if we were not to take really decisive action.”
The First Minister added that uncertainty around the origin of the outbreak – no longer linked solely to the Hawthorn Bar – and evidence of rapid transmission had forced the government into action.
She said: “In a situation like that there is a real need to act quickly.”
Chief medical officer Gregor Smith said there was a need to take “very firm and decisive action”.
He said: “When you look around the world just now, whether that be Europe, Asia or the United States, one of the common features we are starting see is when infections re-emerge, by the time that people think it is time to take action it is already too late.”
A local lockdown was imposed in Leicester at the end of June with restrictions partially lifted after two weeks as daily cases decreased.
Dr Julian Tang, associate professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, who completed his PHD in Aberdeen, said: “I’m based in Leicester, we’ve been through this already and some part of Leicester are still in lockdown.”
Dr Tang added: “If people in Aberdeen do what they are told and reduce contact, stay at home and only go out for essential trips, wear their masks and reduce that rate of daily new cases, they will get out of it quicker. That’s what happened in Leicester.”