Nicola Sturgeon should consider easing restrictions sooner, says top scientist

Nicola Sturgeon should consider speeding up the easing of lockdown, one of Scotland's most eminent virus experts said on Wednesday after two-thirds of Scotland's council areas recorded no deaths from the virus last week.

Latest National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures show that 19 deaths related to Covid-19 were registered between April 26 and May 2, down four on the previous week, while 20 of the country’s 32 local authorities recorded no virus fatalities at all.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh who has advised the Scottish Government on its Covid-19 taskforce, said that in light of continued positive data it is “worth having a look” at easing restrictions faster.

“The data are more positive than almost anybody anticipated when the roadmaps in both Scotland and England were set out,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“To me, logic dictates that yes we should be considering the earlier relaxation of measures if policy is indeed to be driven by data not dates.”

Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly defended harsher restrictions in Scotland than south of the Border as the result of a “data not dates” approach, but the Scottish Hospitality Group (SHG) have today questioned why it faces being “left behind” in the Covid recovery compared with England when data “could hardly be better”.

Even with the scheduled easing of restrictions, the SHG predicts that less than half of Scotland’s pubs, restaurants and hotels will be open and trading viably once indoor drinking is allowed from May 17, and nightclubs will remain closed without a target reopening date in sight.

Warning they are “concerned” that “more progressive” changes in England from the end of June will have a “huge impact” on trade in Scotland, the industry body is demanding that SNP ministers align with England “to avoid putting off customers from the UK”.

"The data that really matters – which is how much impact Covid-19 is having on people’s health – could hardly be better and seems to be going in just one direction,” said group spokesperson Stephen Montgomery.

“She should bring forward the dates and allow us to safely enjoy the economic recovery that our counterparts in England are about to benefit from.”

Prof Woolhouse added that while “there is always some risk in encouraging people to get together”, the vaccination programme means “there’s not such link between cases going up and people ending up in hospital” and that case numbers should no longer be guiding policy as much.

“Right now, Covid doesn’t seem to be exerting a big public health burden in Scotland - there doesn’t seem to be a public health problem to be solved,” he said, adding that “we are no longer in the position” of February when there was a “clear rationale” for lockdown.

In light of the latest data, the Scottish Tories have repeated their call for SNP ministers to move faster in unlocking the country.

“That would help accelerate our economic recovery and help to protect vital jobs and livelihoods that remain under great risk in many different sectors,” said economy spokesman Maurice Golden.

“Business owners are desperate for SNP ministers to give them clarity over when they might be able to welcome back customers.”

SNP public health minister Mairi Gougeon insisted that “if it is possible” to lift restrictions earlier then ministers will “always” do so.

It comes as Nicola Sturgeon suggested that foreign travel to reunite families will resume before sunshine holidays are permitted for Scots.

Speaking during the BBC leaders’ debate on Tuesday night, the SNP leader said: “If we are to protect our progress at home, open up much greater normality domestically then for a little bit longer it may be that restrictions on international travel are the price we have to pay for that.

“And when we do open up, we focus on family reunification before holidays.”

However, it is unclear how airlines and border control officers would distinguish between passengers travelling for leisure and family purposes, and the plans have been blasted as “utterly impossible” by industry bodies.

“A phased return to travel based on evaluating people’s reason to travel will be utterly impossible for anyone within the travel industry to police,” said Joanne Dooey of the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association.

“How is a travel agent going to prove the validity of each traveller’s trip and whether a customer genuinely has a relative living on the Costa del Sol or not?”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for AGS Airports, which owns Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton, warned it is “imperative” there is a four-nations approach to resuming international travel after Ms Sturgeon said that any common agreement had to be “on the right basis”.

“Anything other than a co-ordinated four-nations approach will result in widespread confusion for passengers who will simply travel to airports in England,” they warned.