Don’t get your hopes up – ‘Freedom Day’ could be delayed until August!

SCOTLAND’S Freedom Day looks set to be delayed as fears mount over the spiralling number of new Covid cases.

Nicola Sturgeon previously agreed on June 28 as the provisional date for moving the country down to Level 0, meaning a further relaxation of restrictions.

However, cases have been rising steadily, with yesterday’s figures showing a further 1,030 infections – the highest number reported on a Saturday for almost five months.

The UK is being battered by a third wave of the virus, with both Miss Sturgeon and Boris Johnson reconsidering their plans.

Mr Johnson has warned that ‘worrying’ data has made it all but inevitable that he will announce a four-week delay to England’s Freedom Day tomorrow.

Scottish Government insiders do not expect all restrictions to be lifted on June 28 as planned.

The First Minister is due to make an announcement on June 21 – the day Mr Johnson had planned to end restrictions in England – and will examine data and listen to advisers between now and then.

But Professor Linda Bauld, an expert in public health at Edinburgh University, thinks many Scots may have to wait until August.

Scotland is now consistently seeing more than 1,000 new cases a day for the first time since January, at the height of the second wave. There were 1,030 cases yesterday, with two deaths.

Professor Bauld, who was last week awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, said: ‘I can see no reason why these numbers will start to go down. It’s unlikely that we’re going to see a big turnaround in three weeks. If the vaccines do what they’re supposed to, and everyone over 18 has had at least a single dose by the end of July, then it should be possible to move ahead in August, but very tricky before then.’

However, Professor Bauld said she remained cautiously optimistic: ‘All signs from the vaccine are positive, we just need more time.

‘We will see some areas with very low numbers moving ahead [with relaxations], but we are talking about more rural areas, not the Central Belt, not the cities.’

It is understood that, even if the increase in cases does not lead to much greater hospitalisation and deaths, it will still see the government take a more cautious approach to easing restrictions.

There is a reluctance to be too bold when case numbers remain high, although there is increasing confidence that the vaccine is not only stopping people becoming ill, but it is also cutting transmission.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Decisions taken around easing current restrictions will be done based on the data available in Scotland. We do not want to keep

THIRD WAVE: Holiday plans could be on hold as Covid cases remain high restrictions in place a minute longer than is necessary, but when changes are made, they will reflect the situation as it is in Scotland, rather than elsewhere.’

However, Scots Tories have warned that the Government must give businesses reasons for optimism, with many still struggling from months of lockdown.

Murdo Fraser, the party’s Covid recovery spokesman, said: ‘We understand the need for caution given the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant.

‘The incredible success of the vaccination scheme across Scotland and the United Kingdom means that the SNP Government should be looking to give individuals and businesses hope going forward.

‘Pressures on our health service continue to be low and we must see a clear plan from the First Minister for restrictions being safely eased.’

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said yesterday that plans to remove the final social distancing restrictions in England on June 21 are likely to be delayed until July 19, because of ‘serious, serious’ concerns about a spike in hospitalisations due to the Indian variant, now known as the Delta strain.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Cornwall, Mr Johnson said: ‘We are seeing some worrying stuff in the data, clearly.’

A poll yesterday suggested that only a third of Britons want the total removal of restrictions to go ahead as originally laid out.

The British Medical Association is among those calling for a delay to allow more people to receive second jabs.