Nicola Sturgeon says she ‘will not be pressured’ into lifting lockdown measures too early, amid speculation that Boris Johnson will ease restrictions in England on Sunday.
The prime minister is said to be planning on offering the public ‘unlimited exercise’ and outdoor picnics from Monday as a reward for staying inside since March 23.
Some businesses could also reportedly be given the green light to reopen in order to kickstart the UK economy.
But the First Minister warned that dropping the ‘clear, well understood’ Stay at Home message could be a ‘potentially catastrophic mistake’, as she extended the Scottish lockdown by three weeks.
It comes as the UK death toll jumps to 30,615, with 205,715 confirmed cases of Covid-19 so far.
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Speaking at a coronavirus briefing this afternoon, Ms Sturgeon said the rumoured changes had not been discussed with devolved governments, but all four leaders were set to hold discussions later in the day and in a Cobra meeting on Sunday.
The First Minister added that she ‘may’ be prepared ‘in the immediate future’ to allow people out for exercise more than once a day, but refused to go any further than that.
She said: ‘If and when those discussions do take place, I will make very clear, as I have all along, that it is my preference, if possible, for all four UK nations to make changes together at the same pace. That certainly helps us give clear consistent messages to you the public.
‘However for that approach to work, we must agree to make changes only when all four governments are satisfied we don’t risk a resurgence of the virus.
‘If the Prime Minister decides that he wants to move at a faster pace for England than I consider is right for Scotland, that is his right, I will respect that and I will not criticise him for doing that.’
Ms Sturgeon said she must make decisions ‘informed by the evidence that are right and safe for Scotland’.
She stated: ‘I will not be pressured into lifting restrictions prematurely before I am as certain as I can be that we will not be risking a resurgence of infection rates.
‘The other possible changes that are reported in the media, such as encouraging more people back to work now, opening beer gardens, or encouraging more use of public transport, would not in my judgment be safe for us to make yet.
‘What I do not want a few weeks from now is for us to see a resurgence of this virus, and for you to be asking me “why on Earth did you start to ease lockdown a week or a couple of weeks too early?”
‘It’s not an exaggeration to say the decisions we take now are a matter of life and death. That is why they weigh so very, very heavily and why they must be taken with great care, and it is why as I take them I will continue to err on the side of caution.
‘The way in which we emerge from lockdown that wee bit more quickly is to stick with the current restrictions now.
‘Our assessment of the evidence leads me to the conclusion that the lockdown must be extended at this stage.’
While Boris Johnson’s ‘roadmap’ for the coronavirus crisis will not be revealed until the weekend, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has warned that a second lockdown could be triggered if social distancing is ignored.
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