Nicola Sturgeon has signalled that Scotland’s strict lockdown regulations could be eased more quickly after the country recorded no Covid-19 deaths in the last two days.
The first minister is under growing pressure to relax the lockdown rules and allow more businesses to reopen, with prominent hoteliers and retailers warning that their businesses could fold, causing heavy job losses.
Sturgeon announced on Monday that no deaths had been recorded overnight for the second day running. Before then, the previous time none had been reported was 13 March. There were only 18 confirmed new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, and the seven-day average was at its lowest since mid-March.
Sturgeon said new fatalities were expected, partly since recorded cases were generally lower at weekends, but she said she agreed there was now “very encouraging” evidence “of real and sustained suppression of this virus”.
She added: “We’re at a very critical juncture in this, where we could still go down one of two paths: continued suppression or a resurgence, and I just want to make sure it’s the former path we go down.”
She was pressed to explain why she was adopting a much more cautious approach than the government in Westminster, or the Welsh and Northern Irish administrations, which have allowed people who are shielding due to serious health conditions, such as cancer patients or elderly people, to meet friends outdoors far sooner than in Scotland.
Sturgeon said she still wanted shielding people to continue doing so until the end of July, even though her advisers said the risk of transmission outdoors was very low, but they could take outdoor exercise from 18 June.
The Northern Irish government allowed shielding people to leave their homes from Monday. In England it has been allowed since 1 June, when rules governing schools, outdoor restaurants and bars were also relaxed. From 15 June, high streets shops in England are expected to reopen.
The Scottish Tourism Alliance, which represents hoteliers, visitor attractions and restaurants, has been pressing ministers to reduce physical distancing gaps to one metre, and even some of Sturgeon’s closest allies have suggested she is being too cautious.
Andrew Wilson, a former SNP MSP who chaired Sturgeon’s growth commission inquiry into the finances of an independent Scotland, tweeted on Sunday:
Andrew Wilson
(@AndrewWilson)A tidal wave of job losses has begun. This should take equal focus with the health crisis as of now. Poverty will kill many more than Covid. As stands devolution cannot cope with this or Brexit let alone both. Monumental effort required. https://t.co/v0AByHOkrE
The first minister said they would study the trends carefully before announcing on Thursday 18 June how much more the lockdown would be eased, but she insisted she would not be bounced into relaxing the rules too soon.
“I have zero interest in seeing businesses closed for longer than necessary, I have got zero interest in seeing the population have to suffer these restrictions longer than necessary,” she said. “I desperately want us to get back to normal but I have to steer this ship forward in a way that is safe, that doesn’t allow this virus to do more damage than it has already done.”
Sturgeon’s government has faced further criticism of its protection of vulnerable groups after it emerged that 18,000 shielding people were wrongly told they could stop shielding on Monday 8 June, 10 days earlier than they should have done. Sturgeon blamed that on an administrative error.