Nicola Sturgeon says she won’t be ‘pressured’ into lifting lockdown as she presses ahead with three-week extension
Nicola Sturgeon said it would be "very risky" to make changes to the lockdown too quickly (PA)
2 min read
The Scottish First Minister has said the lockdown “must be extended” in Scotland as Boris Johnson considers relaxing restrictions in England.
Nicola Sturgeon insisted that she would "not be pressured into lifting restrictions prematurely before I am as certain as I can be that we will not be risking a resurgence".
“Our assessment of the evidence leads me to the conclusion that the lockdown must be extended at this stage,” she told reporters in Edinburgh.
Her statement comes ahead of the Prime Minister’s address on Sunday, in which he is expected to set out a “roadmap” out of lockdown.
Ms Sturgeon said that she would like all the UK nations to move together on restrictions, but added that it would be "very risky" to make changes too quickly.
She added: "If the prime minister decides that he wants to move at a faster pace for England than I consider is right for Scotland that is, of course, his right.”
"I will respect that and I will not criticise him for doing that."
It was reported yesterday that a further 59 people are confirmed to have died in Scotland with coronavirus, taking the country’s total to 1,762.
'VERY, VERY RISKY'
Setting out her reasons for continuing lockdown, Ms Sturgeon explained that infection rates may still be too high to safely remove restrictions.
She said: “There are still significant numbers of people in Scotland infected with this virus and we’re not yet confident that the all-important R number is comfortably below one.”
The R number - a measure of how many people an infected person may pass the virus to - “could still be hovering around one just now”.
And she added this “means that any significant easing up of restrictions at this stage would be very, very risky indeed”.
She also referenced suggestions that the infection rate in Scotland may be higher than the rest of the UK, “perhaps reflecting the fact that our first cases came later than England so we might be at a different and slightly later stage of the infection”.
Responding to her comments, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “On the broad principle throughout we have said we will take a four nations approach and we believe that provides the best way forward.
“The four nations entered the restrictions at the same time and should where it makes sense exit the restrictions at the same time.
“We agree that the only circumstances where there should be divergence is where there is evidence that supports it.”
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