FM on lockdown — ‘Stay at home’ message will continue in Scotland

Current lockdown restrictions will continue in Scotland for the time being, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed, this afternoon, Thursday.

Though there is a chance that the number of times we are allowed to leave the house for exercise each day may increase, in the coming week, Ms Sturgeon said that the clear message for folk living in Scotland would continue to be “stay at home” for now.

During her daily briefing, the First Minister explained that, although there had been some reports in national media indicating that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would be lifting and relaxing certain restrictions as of Monday, she had not received any formal confirmation of this so far. She stated that there was due to be a meeting of the governments of all four nations later today, where she would be advocating a joint approach across the UK — but only if that meant that no one country had to ease restrictions before it was safe to do so.

Ms Sturgeon referred to scientific evidence suggesting that Scotland’s “R number” — the rate at which the virus is spreading — was still too high, and possibly higher than other parts of the UK.

Legally, the lockdown guidelines are due to be reviewed (and updated if necessary) today. They will be formally reviewed again in three weeks time. The First Minister has said, however, that that will not prevent some changes being made before the next review — if expert advice shows that it is safe to do so.

“None of the decisions I am taking right now are driven by politics,” she said.

“I am driven by the need to save lives — as I think all politicians in the UK are.”

She later added: “In my view, to drop the stay at home conditions right now could be a potentially catastrophic mistake.”