With reports that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce some easing of restrictions, Ms Sturgeon insisted she would “not be pressurised” into lifting measures prematurely. She explained she did not want to lift restrictions too early, and risk a potential second spike of coronavirus. The Scottish First Minister said: “The decisions we take now are a matter of life and death and that is why they weigh so heavily.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak later today with the devolved administrations after reports lockdown measures will be eased next week, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

She said “media reports” over the easing of lockdown measures have not been discussed with the Scottish Government but a call with the devolved nations will take place later today.

“I will not be pressured into lifting measures prematurely,” she said, adding that she strongly believes that to drop the “clear, well understood” stay at home message could be a “potentially catastrophic mistake”.

Speaking about why she believed the lockdown needed to be continued, Nicola Sturgeon said while “really significant progress” was being made in curbing coronavirus, the situation “remains fragile”.

The First Minister said: “There are still significant numbers of people in Scotland infected with this virus and we’re not yet confident that the all-important R number is comfortably below one.”

The R number measures the number of people that each person with coronavirus infects with the disease, with Ms Sturgeon saying this “could still be hovering around one just now”.

And she added this “means that any significant easing up of restrictions at this stage would be very, very risky indeed”.

There are also suggestions the R number in Scotland could be a “bit higher” than other parts of the UK, she added, “perhaps reflecting the fact that our first cases came later than England so we might be at a different and slightly later stage of the infection”.

Nicola Sturgeon insisted that “extreme caution” was required at this “critical juncture”.

Before restrictions could be lifted, she said the Scottish Government wanted to see data confirming “a very clear downward trend”.

She told Scots: “In particular I want to see what our estimates of cases and the R number look like a week from now.”

The lockdown restrictions will be reviewed again in three weeks’ time, she added.

But she said: “We can make changes to the regulations before then if the evidence suggests it is safe to do so.”

More to follow…

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