Fears for tiers as England locks down, Covid cases hit grim 1 million milestone and Scotland waits and watches

Nicola Sturgeon yesterday insisted Scotland will make its own decision on whether to launch a second national lockdown.

She spoke as Boris Johnson announced tough new restrictions for England yesterday as the number of laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK reached one million.

The First Minister said measures in Scotland would be based “on circumstances here”, while also warning people not to travel to or from England except for “essential purposes”. However, leading government scientific advisers warned that UK-wide restrictions will almost certainly be needed.

At a teatime press conference, Johnson announced non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants south of the border will have to close from Thursday until December 2. People in England have been advised not to travel outside their area.

The Prime Minister spoke after England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warned that deaths over the winter could be twice as bad, or worse, than during the first Covid-19 wave.

Mr Johnson then said: “I’m afraid no responsible Prime Minister can ignore the message of those figures. We know the cost of these restrictions – the impact on jobs and livelihoods, and people’s mental health. No one wants to be imposing these measures.”

He added that the new restrictions for England meant the whole of the United Kingdom was dealing with the virus in “pretty much the same way.”

1. My response to the PM’s statement below 👇 pic.twitter.com/HSApFXW0Jg

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 31, 2020

In a statement released in response to Mr Johnson, Ms Sturgeon said: “We will carefully consider the impact of today’s announcement in England – however, we will continue to take decisions that reflect circumstances in Scotland.

“We expect to have further discussion in the coming days about the scope of additional financial support being made available. A crucial point for us is whether support on the scale announced for English businesses is available for Scottish businesses now or if we needed to impose further restrictions later – or if it is only available if Scotland has a full lockdown at the same time as a lockdown in England.

“However, notwithstanding the above, today’s developments should be a reminder to people across Scotland of the need to follow the rules and not to put their own twist on them. It is important we all comply with the rules if we are to successfully suppress the virus, protect the NHS and keep as many businesses and services open.”

Scotland’s new five-tier system comes into place tomorrow and will see regional restrictions. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the UK since the pandemic began rose to 1,011,660 yesterday, with the official death toll now at 46,555.

The Scottish Government announced yesterday that a further 24 Scots have died as a result of coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The daily figures also showed that a 1,101 cases of the virus had been reported – 6.2% of those who received test results.

The total number of Covid-19 hospital patients was 1,149, a decrease of 22 on the previous day’s figure. Meanwhile, 80 people are in intensive care, a decrease of three.

A total of 2,843 confirmed coronavirus deaths have been registered to date, according to the figures. Of the new coronavirus infections, 374 are in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, 317 are in NHS Lanarkshire, with 121 reported in NHS Lothian.

Scotland’s national clinical director, professor Jason Leitch, said: “The present restrictions that people in Scotland are following, are working. I can now say that with much more confidence than I could a week ago. The question is whether they are working quickly enough, and just how fragile they are. We’ve still got 1,000 people a day getting positive tests, and about 25 a day dying.

“But it’s working. The numbers are not what we expected them to be two weeks ago.”

However, Sir Ian Boyd, a member of the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said a “unified” approach was needed to stop the spread of Covid-19. Sir Ian, professor in biology at St Andrews University, said: “Differences between regions of the UK would need to be based on significant differences in the evidence showing how the epidemic is progressing in those regions.

“At present, there is very little evidence to suggest that this is not a community-level epidemic working at the scale of the whole of the UK.

“The epidemic in some regions may be moving ahead of others but it’s inevitable that, if we go on the way we are at present, all regions will eventually be affected similarly. It makes sense to stop this sooner rather than later.”

He added: “Aligning between different regions of the UK would be sensible. SARS-CoV-2, the virus we are all fighting, is immune to policy differences or even to political points scoring. The more unified we are in our determination to rid ourselves of this beast the more likely it is to happen.”

But Linda Bauld, a professor of public health at Edinburgh University, said she did not expect Scotland to go adopt the same lockdown measures as England. She said: “The daily figures are down again and there are fewer people in hospital. I’d be astonished if the First Minister goes with lockdown because a lot of time and effort was spent developing the new strategy with the tiers. It would pretty strange to throw that all in the bin now.”

Colin Borland, head of devolved nations at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “We need to give the new tier system being introduced in Scotland tomorrow a chance. We want the Scottish Government to use a scalpel, not a hammer.”

But Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director general, said: “More of the economy can stay open and more jobs can be protected if business, local government and national government unite. That requires fast communication, support delivered hand-in-hand with evidence-based restrictions and a clear exit strategy. Lockdown will hurt, but the right approach can lessen the pain.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the lockdown for England but said it should have happened “weeks ago”, warning that the delay will cost lives.