Borderers urged to continue making sacrifices as coronavirus lockdown is extended into May

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a warning at lunchtime yesterday, April 16, to Scots to expect an extension to the lockdown announced by UK Government prime minister Boris Johnson on Monday, March 23, and that was confirmed later in the day.

Announcing that continuation of lockdown measures into May, UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, deputising for Mr Johnson as he continues to recover from the virus, said: “The worst thing we could do right now is to ease up too soon, allow a second peak of the virus to hit the National Health Service and to hit the British people.

“It would be the worst outcome not just for public health but for the economy and for our country as a whole.”

“The very clear advice we received is that any change to our social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus.

“That would threaten a second peak of the virus and substantially increase the number of deaths.

“It would undo the progress we have made to date and, as a result, would require an even longer period of the more restrictive social distancing measures.”

That continuation of the current lockdown to over six weeks in length is being backed by Ms Sturgeon, but she says she is reserving the right to break ranks with the rest of the UK at a later date if that would be best for Scotland.

She said: “Early indications are that the lockdown restrictions have resulted in a slowing down in the rate of community transmission of the virus, and while we, of course, can’t be complacent, that slowdown appears to be reflected in a stabilisation of the numbers being admitted to hospital and intensive care.

“And while, of course, it’s hard to be optimistic when every day we are reporting significant numbers of people who have died from this illness – and sadly that is likely to continue for some time yet – we do hope that as a result of the slowdown in the rate of transmission, we will also see the number of deaths decline too.

“In short, the very difficult sacrifices you are all making are working. They are slowing the spread of the virus, they are helping to protect our NHS and they are saving lives.

“However, I must ask you to continue to make these sacrifices for a bit longer.

“The clear advice I have been given at this stage is that these lockdown measures must stay in place for at least three more weeks.

“Although we do believe that these restrictions are having the desired effect, we are not yet confident that transmission has slowed sufficiently to ease up on them.

“If we were to lift any of these restrictions now, we would risk an immediate and potentially exponential resurgence of the virus, and that could result in our NHS being quickly overwhelmed.

“It could result in even more cases in our care homes and it would also mean much more loss of life, and it could lead to the reintroduction of even more stringent restrictions in future, with substantially more damage to the economy as a result.

“In short, all of the progress we have achieved together in these last few weeks, through high compliance with the lockdown restrictions, would be lost.

“Difficult though this is, I hope you will all agree that this is a risk we simply cannot take.

“That is why I am asking all of you to continue to comply with the rules.

“I know all of this is hard, and it is getting harder with every single day that passes, but I know too that you understand the necessity of it.

“This virus is not going to simply disappear. Unfortunately, we are going to have to live with it for some time to come.

“We hope that, in due course, scientific advances will offer some of the solutions – a vaccine eventually, we hope; along the way, perhaps, treatments that can mitigate the symptoms; and perhaps antibody testing that will tell us if, and to what extent, we are developing immunity.

“Until then, and for the foreseeable future, living with this virus is likely to mean some form of restriction on our normal way of life.

“Our challenge is to find, if we can, a better balance than the one we have now.

“That is important because while we know that the current lockdown measures are absolutely essential right now, we also know that they have consequences of their own – consequences for our economy, for our living standards and for our physical and mental health – so we have to consider if, and to what extent, we can continue to suppress the virus and minimise the harm it can do, while restoring as much normality as possible to our everyday lives.

“We will get through these difficult times.

“We will get through if we all keep doing the right thing for our own sake and for the sake of each other.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she would deviate from the UK Government’s lockdown measures if her advisers told her it was in the best interests of her country.”

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, April 17, she added: “If I was being advised, and if the judgment I was applying to that advice told me that I had to do something different to the rest of the UK because it was right and necessary to continue to control the virus in Scotland, of course I would do that.

“I think people would find it astounding if I said anything different to that.

“I think, for the reasons I’ve set out about viruses not respecting borders but also for simplicity of messaging, I think the more consistency we can have across the UK in how we do these things, the better, but all of us have a duty and I think all leaders, I guess, may be reaching certainly different judgments on different things at different times, but we’re all, I’m pretty sure, trying to do our very best here to deal with a very challenging and a very difficult situation.”

Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP John Lamont echoes that plea to Borderers to carry on complying with lockdown rules, saying “The only way in which we can overcome this horrendous virus is by following government advice to the letter, no matter where you live.

“People must work from home if they can and only go out if necessary. This includes going for food and medicine supplies as infrequently as possible, for exercise once per day, or if you look after a vulnerable person.

“This is not easy. However, we can and will get through this.

“I want to thank everyone who is playing their part in the national effort to save lives.”