Sturgeon must 'take responsibility for failings' says MP

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The latest rankings table from the WHO showing the rates of coronavirus per 100,000 people as of August 25 makes extremely grim reading for Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her ruling SNP government. NHS Dumfries/Galloway tops the unfortunate list for Scotland, finding itself in sixth position of the worst-hit Covid regions in Europe with a score of 606.6. Following just two positions behind in eighth is NHS Glasgow with a case rate score of 582.2, landing Scotland’s largest city by population with an unfortunate spot in the top 10.

There are three other Scottish regions in the top 20 list from the WHO, all of which have a case rate of above 435.

NHS Lanarkshire is just outside the top 10 with a Covid case rate of 557.9, followed by NHS Lothian in 17th on 440.7 and NHS Tayside on 437.8.

Looking at European regions as a whole, Georgia topped the WHO’s list with a massive rate of 814.7 cases per 100,000 people, followed by Kosovo (793.6).

However, Northern Ireland finds itself in fourth position, with a case rate of 630.5.

The list from the WHO was shared on Twitter by BBC Scotland news reporter Connor Gillies, with several people venting their fury at the Scottish Government and also hitting out at their disastrous performance on Covid.

One person, who replied with a table from Public Health Scotland showing the weekly Covid rates per 100,000 on August 22, raged: “What is the SNP and Scottish Government doing? Absolutely nothing.

“Same as August 2020 – ignore skyrocketing Covid+ infections in certain areas, wait until it spreads to all of Scotland then do something about it. Not good enough!”

A second Twitter user posted: “Oh dear SNP. Scotland continues to accumulate records for all the wrong reasons.”

Another person wrote: “ScotNats get so angry when failures of their dear leaders are exposed, directing their anger everywhere but ScotGov.”

The worrying figures for Scotland come after Scotland recorded its highest ever number of Covid cases during a 24 hour period – just hours after Ms Sturgeon warned of a return to lockdown if infections continue to surge.

On Wednesday, the Scottish Government said 5,021 new cases had been recorded with infections surging by 698 from the previous day, which had already hit a record high of 4,323.

Earlier this month, most legal restrictions were lifted in Scotland, although the SNP leader has rejected suggestions this move was made too soon.#

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But the easing of lockdown has coincided with a massive jump in Covid cases, with hospital figures and intensive care admissions also rising.

Ms Sturgeon had told the PA news agency: “I don’t want to pre-empt any decision that might or might not – and I hope will not – have to be taken about the imposition of the restrictions.

“But if we, all of us, take the basic precautions right now that we know can slow this virus, then I hope no re-imposition of restrictions will be necessary.

“But I also know that no sensible First Minister, in the face of an infectious virus, would rule anything out, because protecting the population has to be the priority.”

The First Minister also defended the move to lift all legal Covid restrictions earlier this month.

When asked if it came too early, she replied: “No – in fact, at the time, most people criticised me for not moving out of Level 0 quickly enough.

“These are always judgments, there’s no exact science when you’re dealing with a global pandemic of an infectious virus.”

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