Sturgeon: Coronavirus lockdown 'unlikely to be lifted' soon – BBC News, BBC News
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Scotland’s coronavirus lockdown is not likely to be lifted “in the very near future”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The first minister said there were “early optimistic signs” that social distancing measures were having an impact on the spread of the virus.
But she said that “until we know more and have solid evidence, we must stick with it “.
She said the lockdown would not be in place” for a single minute longer than necessary “, but it remains” essential “.
Interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith also said the lockdown measures were expected to remain in place for a” significant period of time “.
Ms Sturgeon said a total of 6,
Scots had now tested positive for coronavirus, although she stressed that this would be an under-estimate and did not include figures from some local laboratories.
She said there were 1, 823 patients in hospital, 405 of whom are in intensive care.
and a further nine people have died after testing positive for the virus, bringing the total figure to 720.
However, Ms Sturgeon stressed a “note of caution” around the figures, as they only include hospital deaths where patients have recorded a positive test and there tends to be a reporting lag over the weekends.
More detailed figures including deaths in care homes and other settings – and those where coronavirus is a “suspected” cause – will be released on Wednesday.
However, Ms Sturgeon said there was no prospect of them being lifted in the short term.
She said: “I want to be very clear, so nobody is under any illusions – that review is not likely to result in these restrictions being lifted in the very near future.
“There are early optimistic signs that the steps we are taking are working, but until we know more and have solid evidence, we must stick with it . “
Stressing that the stringent measures remain” essential “, the first minister added:” They will not be in force for a single minute longer than necessary, but if we lift them too early or do so without thinking through properly how we can ease them while still keeping the virus under control, then we risk it spreading out of control, risk it overwhelming our NHS and risk it taking many more lives. “
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