Nicola Sturgeon has extended lockdown measures for Scotland for another 3 weeks, just days before Boris Johnson delivers a speech where he is expected to ease lockdown measures
The First Minister of Scotland revealed that the country’s current lockdown restrictions would remain in place, despite Boris preparing to announce changes to some measures on Sunday.
Speaking at her daily coronavirus press conference, Nicola Sturgeon criticised reports that the UK Government was planning to scrap the ‘Stay at Home’ mantra that has been in place alongside the lockdown period, as the Prime Minister is suspected of easing measures on Monday.
The Prime Minister will lay out his plans on how he wants to get the country back to work, and children back school, giving hope to millions of people who are waiting in anticipation to see when restrictions will start to be eased.
At the press briefing she said:
“The other possible changes reported in the media today – such as encouraging more people back to work now or opening beer gardens or encouraging more use of public transport – would not, in my judgement, be safe for us to make yet.”
“And I believe that for us to drop the clear, well understood ‘Stay at Home’ message right now could be a potentially catastrophic mistake.”
It is thought that Sunday’s speech will see people in the UK being allowed to have unlimited time outside for exercise starting Monday, with cafes and outdoor potentially reopening shortly after, with social distancing measures still in place.
The Scottish leader said today that all evidence currently points towards continuing the lockdown with the same restrictions in place.
She explained: “Our assessment of the evidence leads me to conclude that the lockdown must be extended at this stage.
“We know that progress remains fragile, our estimates suggest there are still significant amounts of people in Scotland infected with this virus.”
“Any significant easing of restrictions at this stage would be very very risky indeed.”
The Prime Minister will hold discussions with the Scottish First Minister as well as the other leaders of the individual nations within the UK later this afternoon.
Ahead of this meeting with Boris Johnson, Sturgeon insisted that she will “not be pressured” into lifting lockdown measures early in Scotland.
She said: “If the PM wants to decide to move at a faster rate than Scotland that is his right.”
“I hope you understand and agree that I must make judgements informed by the evidence that are right and safe for Scotland.”
“I will not be pressured into lifting restrictions prematurely.”
This news comes after Nicola Sturgeon announcing that she has laid out plans on how the lockdown in Scotland will end and what measures need to be in place before the lockdown restrictions can start to ease.
There is currently a total of 6,067 people who have contracted COVID-19 in Scotland, with 2,795 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths confirmed in the country.
The UK now has a total of 201,101 people infected with the coronavirus, with the official reported number of deaths at 30,076 fatalities in hospitals, care homes and in the wider community.
