Category: Coronavirus

Below is the text of the statement made by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, on 14 June 2020.

Good afternoon everyone, thank you for joining us this afternoon

I’ll start – as always – with an update on some of the key statistics in relation to Covid-19.

As at 9 o’clock this morning, there have been 15,755 cases confirmed through our NHS laboratories – that’s an increase of 25 from yesterday.

A total of 964 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That represents a total reduction of 19 from yesterday, including a reduction of 7 in the number of confirmed cases.

A total of 15 people last night were in intensive care with either confirmed or suspected Covid 19. That is a decrease of 5 since yesterday.

I can confirm that since 5 March, a total of 3,904 patients who had tested positive for the virus and required to be in hospital have now been able to leave hospital. I wish all of them well.

And in the last 24 hours, I can confirm that 1 death has been registered of a patient confirmed through a test as having Covid-19 –which takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 2,448.

I want to stress as I always do that these numbers are not just statistics – they represent people whose loss is being mourned right now. That point is just as important when we are reporting one death, as it is when we report multiple deaths. So – once again – let me send my deepest condolences and my thoughts to everyone who has lost a loved one as a result of this illness.

Let me also express my thanks – as always – to our health and care workers for the extraordinary work that you continue to do in very testing circumstances. And indeed, let me broaden that today to all of our key workers – health and care, obviously, but our police officers, our prison officers, those who are keeping our energy systems working, keeping food on our tables, everybody who has played a part in ensuring our country has kept operating during this very difficult time.

I’ll move on to questions fairly soon, but I want this afternoon to give an indication of what you can expect in the week ahead.

I hope to be able to confirm on Thursday, that people who are shielding will be able to go outdoors for exercise.

In addition, as you know, we are required by law to review the lockdown restrictions every three weeks. The next review date is Thursday. At that point, I will set out to parliament our assessment of whether the current suppression of the virus allows us to move to phase 2 of our route map.

As things stand right now, I remain optimistic that, on Thursday, while we might not be able to do absolutely everything we hoped to do in phase 2, we will nevertheless be able to enter that next phase and announce some further important steps on our journey back to normality.

The reason for my cautious optimism is that since we last announced changes, we have continued to see a downward trend in COVID-19 cases, and also in the weekly number of deaths. In addition, the R number – which as you know is the rate at which the virus reproduces – has fallen slightly, and is now between 0.6 and 0.8, and it’s crucial that it remains under 1.

So I hope, for example, that as well as allowing a bit more social interaction, from Thursday we will also be able to move forward with the remobilisation of the NHS and also indicate a date from which our retail sector can begin to re-open.

All of that and any other changes that we’re able to announce on Thursday will be in line with the careful approach that we set out in our route map.

And that is really important. The evidence suggests that the careful approach we have adopted so far is working.

The lesson I take from that is that we should stick with that plan – not discard it.

Because – and this is the much harder bit – while transmission of the virus is much reduced, the virus hasn’t gone away yet.

We still have a significant number of infected people in Scotland. And we are still seeing new cases each day. The risk remains that, if we move too quickly, and if we start coming into closer contact with too many people, cases of the virus could start to multiply again very quickly and we need to avoid that happening.

On the other hand, if we hammer down the incidence and prevalence of the virus down to the lowest levels we can, our exit from lockdown may then involve a return to more normality in the medium term than we previously thought possible.

And that’s of course what we must hope for right across the board – but it will be particularly important as we try over the next few months to restore as much normality as we can to children’s schooling. Which of course is a big priority, not just for the Government and for local authorities, but for parents and young people the length and breadth of the country.

So while there are no risk free options – and we shouldn’t slow down progress in pursuit of perfect risk free options that don’t exist – equally we must not ease restrictions at a pace that very obviously heightens the risks.

And we should also realise that the prize for going perhaps a bit more cautiously now, could be a return to greater normality in the medium term.

We have seen in England and some other countries, that the R number may have increased, particularly in certain regions – and we might see that here too. That’s won’t necessarily be a cause for panic – but it should be a reminder to us to constantly check and assess the impact of our actions.

All of that means the judgements we make about phase 2 will by necessity be finely balanced.

Phase 2 contains a number of significant measures – including potential changes to the rules on how we can meet each other, what workplaces can reopen, and which public services can resume.

We are currently assessing the impact of those different measures. That means considering the particular risks that each element will bring, and thinking also about what mitigating actions might be needed to reduce those risks. And it means – as we have done right throughout this crisis – weighing up both the harms that come from Covid, and also the harms that come from lockdown itself.

As I said earlier, we might not be able to do absolutely everything – but we want to do as much as possible, and we will do as much as we possibly can.

It is also likely that not everything that we are able to do in phase 2 will kick in straight away on Friday.

Regulatory changes will have to be made.

Our public transport operators will need time to implement their plans to increase capacity safely.

And workplaces that we hope will be permitted to open, will need to ensure they have the appropriate physical distancing measures in place; that guidance is being followed; and that employees feel confident that they can return to work safely.

We are producing additional guidance this week – in advance of any possible changes – for Early Learning and Childcare, for the retail sector, and on the use of public spaces.

Steps such as these are essential, to ensure we continue to suppress the virus as much as possible.

Once we determine what changes can be made, we will phase them in, in the most constructive way we can. We want people to be confident that they will be safe, as more social and economic activities gradually resume.

It’s also vital that we all understand the crucial point that I stressed earlier. Just because the number of cases is currently declining, and we are thinking of easing the restrictions – that does not mean the threat of coronavirus has gone. It hasn’t. The progress we have made still remains fragile, and the virus call too easily could run out of control once again.

There are some worrying signs of that right now in some states in America, for example.

So we must work hard to get the balance as right as we can. And as we do that, some of the most basic public health advice becomes even more important.

As we move through the routemap what we are doing, as a society, is relying less on strict lockdown restrictions to suppress the virus – and relying more instead on all of us following the public health guidance, maintaining physical distancing and of course participating in Test and Protect.

Our ability to move to further phases, and to sustainably re-open our society and economy – so that we do not need to lockdown again in the future – depends on all of us strictly following those principles.

In the weeks and months ahead – perhaps even more than at the present time – we all have to remember that the decisions we are making as individuals, will affect the health and wellbeing of all of us.

And so it remains critical that we stick with the current public health guidance. So let me end just by recapping on what that is.

We should all be staying home most of the time, and seeing fewer people than we normally would. When we do meet people from another household we should stay outdoors. We must stay outdoors and stay 2 metres apart from them. We shouldn’t meet more than one other household at a time, and not more than one a day – and keep to a maximum of 8 people in a group.

We should all be washing our hands often and thoroughly. If we’re not at home, make sure we have hand sanitiser with us.

And please wear a face covering if you are in a shop or on public transport, or in any enclosed space where physical distancing is more difficult.

Avoid touching hard surfaces – and clean any you do touch.

And if you have the symptoms, get a test immediately and follow advice on self-isolation. You can book a test by going to the NHS Inform website.

If we all continue to do these things and make sure we don’t ease up on the basic public health guidance then we will continue to see this virus suppressed and we will continue to see easing of lockdown restrictions become much more possible in the future.

My thanks again to all of you for doing that. I’m going to hand over now to the Chief Nursing Officer and then to our National Clinical Director to say a few words before taking questions.

Below is the text of the statement made by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, on 11 June 2020.

Introduction

Good afternoon,

I will start with the usual update on some of the key statistics in relation to Covid-19.

As at 9 o’clock this morning, there have been 15,682 positive cases confirmed through our NHS labs – that’s an increase of 17 from yesterday.

A total of 909 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That represents a total decrease of 78 since yesterday, including a decrease of 10 in the number of confirmed cases.

A total of 21 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid 19. That is an increase of 3 since yesterday – but all of the increase I should say is in suspected cases.

I am also able to confirm today that since 5 March, a total of 3,858 patients who had tested positive and needed hospital treatment for the virus have been able to leave hospital – and I wish all of them well.

And in the past 24 hours, 5 deaths were registered of patients confirmed through a test as having the virus – the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, is now therefore 2,439.

As always, it’s important to stress that the figures I have just read out are not just statistics. They all represent individuals who right now are being mourned by their families and friends. So – again – I want to send my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness.

I also want to express my thanks – as always – to our health and care workers for the extraordinary work that they continue to do in very difficult and testing circumstances.

R Number

Now I want to highlight three issues today – firstly I will cover our latest report, which has just been published, on the “R” number”; I will update on some developments in the construction industry; and talk about support that we are making available for students over the summer.

I’ll then also close by reflecting on the importance of our Test and Protect system, which was launched two weeks ago, and our wider public health guidance.

Let me start though with today’s report on the “R” number.

As you will recall, the R number shows the rate at which this virus is reproducing. So in summary if R is above 1, every person with the virus will infect more than 1 other person, and the virus will then spread exponentially. If R though is below 1, the number of people with the virus will fall.

We estimate that the R number in Scotland, as of last Friday – 5 June – was between 0.6 and 0.8. That is a lower estimate than for two weeks ago, when we calculated that the number was likely to be between 0.7 and 0.9. So, under that estimate, we expect that the virus will continue to decline.

In addition, we estimate that last Friday, 4,500 people in Scotland had the virus and were infectious. Our previous estimate, for 29 May, had been that 11,500 people were likely to be infectious.

Now that, of course, sounds like a very big decline, so it’s worth me stressing, that we don’t actually think the number of infectious people has more than halved in just one week. What has been happening is that we have been reassessing our estimates for previous weeks, based on the latest figures available to us. So, in short, it is likely that the 11,500 was an overestimate, not that the number has halved in a single week.

However, notwithstanding that, these latest estimates reflect the encouraging data that we have seen in the last couple of weeks, and there is no doubt looking at all of this data, that we are making very real progress in combatting and suppressing the virus in Scotland.

However as always, it is important that I inject a note of caution. Firstly, the estimates I have reported to you today, of course don’t yet take account of the phase 1 changes that we made to begin the easing out of lockdown, and we need to continue to monitor any impact from that carefully.

Secondly, the number of people who we estimate will be infectious is certainly smaller than it was, but it is also still large enough to make the virus take off rapidly again if the R number was to go much above 1. So for these reasons we need to celebrate the progress but continue to be careful and cautious.

Next week, in fact a week today, we will have a further review of the lockdown restrictions.

I am currently very hopeful that at that point we will be able to lift some further restrictions. We may not be able to do everything in phase 2, but I hope that we can do certainly, at least, some of that. Of course it is also possible that some of these changes will be phased over a three week period, but I’m hopeful that we will be able to take some further important steps forward when we report on the review next week.

But it is important again to stress that we must do that cautiously and proportionately. And I will also make the point I frequently make, but it is not just an obvious point, it is a very important point, we will be in a better position to lift more restrictions if all of us continue to stick with the current guidelines and further suppress the virus to lower levels than it is even now.

Construction sector

Now one area where we judge we can make some further progress now, is in the construction industry. I can confirm today that the sector will be able to move to the next step of its restart plan – which is something that was always envisaged as part of phase 1 of our route map. So it is not a change to phase 1.

Earlier steps have allowed for health and safety planning, followed by preparatory work at construction sites.

And moving to the next step of the industry plan will now allow workers to return to construction sites gradually, while using measures such as physical distancing and hand hygiene to ensure that they can do so safely.

I am very grateful to the sector and trade unions for the very responsible approach that they have taken during an incredibly difficult time.

It’s important to be very clear though, that we still have a long way to go before construction will be working at full capacity, but there is no doubt this is a significant step in allowing an important industry to return safely to work.

I can also confirm today that we are extending our Help to Buy scheme – which was due to come to an end next March – we are extending that to March 2022.

Under that scheme, the Government provides up to 15% of the cost of buying a new-build home, and recovers its share of the funding when the property is sold, or when the share is bought out.

In recent years, this scheme has helped 17,000 people – more than ¾ of them aged 35 or under – to buy new-build homes. It has also, of course, been a valuable support for house builders. At present, of course, the pandemic means that the scheme is not being used.

So by confirming that it is being extended, I hope we can ensure that more people – who may otherwise have missed out on this scheme – are able to move into new homes in the future, and also that we are to provide a bit more confidence for the construction sector.

Student support

The third issue I want to talk about is support for students.

We know that many students rely on income from seasonal or part-time jobs – especially over the summer months – and that the economic impact of Covid will therefore cause them particular difficulties.

And that can be especially important for higher education students, who, unlike further education students, can’t usually claim benefits over the summer.

We have already provided additional support for students, and we have also suspended debt recovery action by the Student Awards Agency. And today, we are bringing forward more than £11 million of further support.

This funding will be administered by colleges and universities to help higher education students who most need it. And it is a further way in which we are trying to support students, at a time when many of them are still facing potential hardship.

Test and Protect

Now the final issue I want to cover today relates to my earlier discussion of the R number, and how we hope next week to announce some further changes to lockdown restrictions.

As we do that – as we gradually, and I emphasise gradually, return to meeting more people, and living a bit more freely, which all of us are of course keen to do – our test and protect system will become ever more important in helping us all to live a less restricted life, while still being able to suppress the virus.

Now yesterday, we published the first data from the system, which started two weeks ago today.

And that data shows, that in the period up to 7 June, 681 people who reported symptoms had tested positive for Covid. As of yesterday, contact tracing had been completed for 481 of those, and was in progress for a further 50.

Amongst those 531 cases, a total of 741 contacts had been traced – that’s just under 1½ people per case. And of course people’s contacts right now will be lower than normal because of the lockdown restrictions that are in place.

Now there’s two points that I think that are important for me to note about this data – and it is very initial data.

The first is that the number of people who have tested positive is higher than is suggested by our daily figures – the ones I report on new cases here each day.

That is because our daily figures do not yet cover tests from labs run by the UK Government – such as those for regional test centres and mobile units – although we will be able to include that information very soon.

In addition, the current figures slightly overstate the number of cases where no tracing has been carried out so far. One reason for that is that some historic cases – from the time when the system was being piloted – still feature in the data. If that historic data is removed, the proportion of completed cases increases from 71% to 86%.

We will publish more detailed data on test and protect in the weeks ahead because it is important not just that government understands how well it is working but you the public can see that too. But I want to be very clear that our preliminary indications are that test and protect is already working well. And of course we will identify areas for improvement as and when they arise and as the system becomes ever more established.

Fundamentally though, I want to stress to everyone watching just how important test and protect is and how important is it going to continue to be in the weeks and potentially the months that lie ahead.

I guess it essentially represents for all of us a kind of social bargain.

If you have symptoms, or – and in some ways actually this is the much more difficult bit, if you have been in contact with someone who has symptoms, even if you don’t have symptoms yourself – we will ask you to isolate completely.

We will support you in doing that, if you need that support – but it is still a very tough thing to ask people to do.

However, and this is the social bargain bit, if all of us agree to do that when necessary, it means that all of us together collectively will be able to continue to emerge from lockdown while keeping the virus under control.

At any one time, some of us will have to self-isolate for a period, so that together, all of us can start to lead a less restricted life.

So please, if you have symptoms of Covid-19 – remember that’s a new continuous cough, or a fever, or a loss of or change in your sense of taste or smell – please do not wait for a few hours or a day or two to see if you feel better. Start self-isolating immediately that you experience these symptoms, and ask for a test immediately.

To remind you, you can do that by going to the NHS inform website, or by phoning NHS 24 on 0800 028 2816 – that’s 0800 028 2816. If we all do that, when we experience symptoms and if any of us are contacted to say we have been in close contact with someone who has the virus, and we agree to self-isolate, then all of us are going to help enable the whole country to get out of lockdown, not just a bit more quickly, but more safely as well.

Conclusion

The final point I’d like to make before we move on to questions is that your best way of reducing, the best way of all of us to reduce our chance of being a close contact with somebody with the virus – and of being asked to self-isolate as a result – is by continuing to stick to our key public health guidance. And of course, that is also our best way of avoiding and getting and transmitting the virus.

So just to remind everybody what that guidance is, you should still be staying home most of the time right now, and you should still be meeting fewer people than you normally would. If your life feels like it is getting back to normal right now, please ask yourself why that is – because it shouldn’t yet be feeling as if it is getting back to normal.

When you do meet people from another household, you absolutely must stay outdoors, do not go indoors, and you must stay 2 metres apart from members of the other household.

Please, do not meet up with more than one other household at a time, don’t meet more than one in the course of any single day – and please keep to a maximum, I stress a maximum, of 8 people in any group.

Wash your hands often, make sure you’re doing it thoroughly. If you are out of your home take hand sanitiser with you.

Wear a face covering if you are in an enclose space, where physical distancing may be more difficult, for example in a shop or on public transport. Again I want to stress that. We know that one of us wearing a face covering helps reduce the risk of us transmitting the virus to somebody else. And somebody else wearing a face covering reduces the risk of them transmitting the virus to us.

It’s another way in which we can all act to protect each other.

Avoid touching hard surfaces – and any you do touch make sure you are cleaning them thoroughly.

And as I have already covered today, if you have symptoms of Covid-19 – ask for a test immediately, and please follow the advice on self-isolation.

Above all else, all of us right now should remember that in every single individual decision we take, we are potentially affecting the health and the wellbeing of others, and indeed the wellbeing of the whole country.

So if all of us continue to do the right thing, if all of us continue to stick to these rules, then we will continue to see the progress that I have been reporting in recent days, and we will be able to come out of lockdown, hopefully even more quickly, but much more importantly than that, we will be able to do that sustainably, because we will come out of lockdown and continue to suppress this virus, which is our overall aim.

So thank you for everything you have been doing. Please keep doing it, so that together we can continue to make this life saving progress.

Below is the text of the statement made by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, on 12 June 2020.

Good afternoon, and welcome to today’s briefing.

I am joined today by the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Fair Work and Culture Fiona Hyslop and our National Clinical Director, Jason Leitch.

Let me start, as always, with an update on some of the key statistics in relation to Covid-19.

As at 9 o’clock this morning, there have been 15,709 positive cases confirmed through our NHS laboratories, and that is an increase of 27 from yesterday.

A total of 914 patients are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That represents an increase of 5 overall from yesterday. However, the number of confirmed cases within that has reduced by 20.

A total of 23 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, and that is an increase of two since yesterday.

I am also able to confirm that since 5 March, a total of 3,873 patients who had tested positive and needed hospital treatment have since been able to leave hospital. I wish all of them well.

In the last 24 hours, 3 deaths were registered of patients confirmed through a test as having the virus. That takes the total number of deaths in Scotland, under that measurement, to 2,442.

Even as we see these figures decline – thankfully so – it is nevertheless really important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that they are not just statistics. They all represent unique loved individuals whose loss is a source of grief to many people. So once again, my condolences are with everyone who has lost a loved one to this illness.

I will also express again my thanks to our health and care workers. Your efforts are enormously appreciated and, again, even as we see numbers in hospital and intensive care reducing, we know that you are still working incredibly hard in difficult circumstances, and you have our deep gratitude for that.

There are two items I want to update on today.

The first relates to the economy. Today’s GDP figures show that in April the UK economy contracted by more than 20%. That is – by some distance – the largest decline on record. And it confirms the scale of the economic crisis that has inevitably been caused by the health crisis that we face.

I have previously welcomed the UK Government’s interventions, especially the furlough scheme which has helped to preserve jobs during this period but, in my view, it is now time to signal a further extension of Treasury support.
Other countries have already made this move, including France where plans are being put in place for a long-term partial activity scheme covering possibly, as long as the next two years.

The alternative to extended support being put in place is either that businesses are forced to re-open before it is safe to do so – and that of course could damage health and it could cost lives – or businesses have to take an even bigger hit, and that will cost jobs.

In my view neither of those two alternatives is acceptable so I hope we will see further action from the UK Government and we look forward to working constructively with them, playing our full part in making all of that happen.

The fall in GDP is obviously something we discussed in this morning’s weekly meeting of the Scottish Cabinet’s economic sub-committee.

We also looked ahead to the publication of the latest statistics on Scotland’s labour market, next Tuesday. Those figures will cover February to April of this year – so that’s a period which obviously includes the first full month of lockdown.
I don’t want to pre-empt that publication, I’m not able to pre-empt it, but we do expect to see a significant impact on employment, and a rise in unemployment. And sadly, despite all of our best efforts that situation is likely to remain challenging in the period ahead.

And of course, all of that is before we factor in any potential impact on the economy from Brexit.

That is why I have today joined with the First Minister of Wales in writing to the UK Government calling for an extended Brexit transition period – to take away the risk of a ‘no deal’ outcome and also to make sure that all of us remain focused on supporting business through the post-COVID recovery, and not making the challenges that the economy and our businesses face any worse than it already is.

That is the action I believe we need from the UK, but I am acutely aware of the responsibility I have as First Minister, and that the Scottish Government has, to make sure we are doing everything within our power, and resources.

That is relevant to the announcement I’m making today because we are incredibly focused on making sure we are taking action to protect jobs and, hopefully in the future to create jobs, as we lead our economy through the post-COVID recovery.

The impact of this crisis is of course felt across our whole economy. I had discussions yesterday with the tourism sector – a sector particularly hard hit. And we know there are other sectors that are particularly badly affected too.
For example, Scotland’s energy sector is facing a massive decline in global demand, and that is having a very serious impact on our economy.

The Scottish Government wants to do everything we can to support the energy sector through this crisis.
We want to protect jobs and businesses in the north-east of Scotland and across the country. And in doing that we want to make sure that the sector is able to continue to lead, and indeed to benefit from Scotland’s necessary transition to a net-zero economy.

That’s why today, I’m announcing a new £62 million energy transition fund.

Over the next 5 years the Fund will support key energy projects which will help Scotland’s move to net-zero.

For example, one project – the Global Underwater Hub – brings together engineering expertise from academia and industry. And it will help our oil and gas sector to use its existing subsea and underwater expertise in new areas such as marine renewables.

Another project receiving support will be the Energy Transition Zone – a new business park adjacent to the Aberdeen South Harbour. That will provide state of the art facilities for the manufacturing and development of renewable and low carbon technologies.

Almost inevitably, given the focus of the fund is the transition from oil and gas to renewables, the projects which directly benefit from this fund are currently based in the north east of Scotland. But by securing Scotland’s place as a world leader in key technologies for the future, they will help businesses right across the country to diversify, to attract new investment, seize new opportunities and both protect and create jobs.

We know that the energy transition will shape our country’s economic future. That was true before the COVID crises and it remains true during and after the COVID crisis.

Through these investments not only will we shape that energy future and economic future, we will also help with the economic recovery from the crisis currently afflicting so many businesses across Scotland.

The second issue I want to touch on today concerns the Scottish Government’s approach to easing restrictions.
As I’m sure many of you know and will be eagerly anticipating, the current restrictions will be reviewed again on Thursday next week.

Our considerations will be informed, as they will always be, by the scientific evidence and advice and the clear principles we have set out.

However, I have been acutely aware throughout this crisis that it’s not, and never will be, enough for me simply to tell you what I want you to do.

I also have a duty to explain to you, on an ongoing basis, the reasons behind what we are asking you to do.

In fact the reason that I conduct these press briefings on a daily basis is to ensure that you get clear and direct information – on the impact of COVID-19 and on the country’s response.

That’s vital to ensuring that people understand the threat this virus poses – but also how we can all work together to reduce and mitigate that threat.

I’ve spoken before about some of the research we undertake to check that the messages we’re trying to convey are getting across.

We’re going to publish the latest research today so that you are able, if you are interested, to read it for yourself.
It shows, amongst other things that the vast majority of people in Scotland continue to support a careful and gradual easing of the restrictions.

But the aspect of the research I wanted to particularly highlight today is around public attitudes to our new Test and Protect system.

The research shows that 90% of people say that they would be willing to isolate for 14 days if someone they had come into contact with had symptoms of the virus.

90% said they would be willing to undergo Coronavirus testing if asked to do this.

And 88% are happy to provide details of people they had been in contact with if they develop coronavirus symptoms
That’s important and it’s also really encouraging because, as I’ve said to you before, Test and Protect is going to be a vital tool in keeping the virus suppressed as we ease more restrictions.

But Test and Protect can only work if all of us across the country are willing to comply with the measures that it sets out – if we’re willing to get tested when we have symptoms, if we’re willing to isolate if we have the virus, and if we’re willing to self-isolate if we’ve been a close contact of someone with the virus.

So these research findings, showing that willingness to make personal sacrifices for the common good, are really encouraging and I want to thank everybody for that spirit of collective endeavour that I think we all still have.

Now I want to conclude today with a key point about the critical juncture that we are at in fighting this virus.

I know that as cases, hospitalisations, numbers in intensive care, deaths, and the R number all decline, many will think that means we should speed up our exit from lockdown. And I understand that.

We are all deeply, deeply anxious about the impact on the economy. But the fact is this; the reason we are making such good progress now is that we are carefully, following a plan.

And if we depart from that plan we will risk the progress we’re making.

On the other hand, if we’re prepared to stick with the plan I believe we will keep making further progress.

And the more we suppress this virus, the more lives will be saved and the fewer people will suffer the long term health consequences that increasingly we fear that it might leave some people with.

But also, if we suppress this virus sufficiently, we will be able to restore a greater degree of normality to all of our lives.
So while I understand the desire for speed of recovery, the sustainability of our recovery also really matters.

The simple fact is if we go too fast now we risk a resurgence of the virus that will then set us back, and that is a risk, in my view, we must be careful not to take.

So I very much hope that we can and will take more steps forward at next week’s review, but I want to be very clear that we must continue to do that carefully and cautiously. And if we do, we will continue to suppress this virus, and it will mean that we get back to more normality than we will otherwise do.

All of you can help us in moving in the right direction by sticking with the rules.

So as we head into the weekend I want to briefly reiterate again the key public health guidance that is in place for now.
We should all still be staying at home most of the time and meeting fewer people than normal.

If your life feels like it is getting back to normal think about whether you’re complying with the guidance as you should be.

When you meet people from another household you must stay outdoors and you must stay two metres apart from them.

Don’t meet up with more than one household at a time. Don’t meet up with more than one a day. And please keep to a maximum of eight people in a group.

Wash your hands, often. Wear a face covering when you are in a shop or public transport – or in any enclosed space where it is more difficult to physically distance.

Avoid touching hard surfaces and clean those that you do touch.

And, as I have said already, if you have symptoms of COVID-19 ask for a test immediately – go to the NHS Inform website and follow the advice on self-isolation.

Above all else we all have to remember that we are still in a situation where our actions as individuals have an impact on the health and well-being of everybody.

So I want to end again today by thanking you sincerely for your patience, for your forbearance, and for making the sacrifices you are making so that collectively as a country we continue to get through this crisis.

My thanks to all of you and I will now hand over to the Economy Secretary to say a few words before handing over to Professor Leitch.