First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says coronavirus lockdown likely to last 'some weeks' as she answers questions from Scottish party leaders
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the coronavirus lockdown is likely to continue for some weeks as the Scottish Parliament was convened by video conference for the first time in its history due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The First Minister was joined by all Scotland's party leaders for the debate which took place despite Holyrood being in recess.
Leading topics of discussion included the ongoing challenge the government claims it is facing to get adequate volumes of personal protective equipment (PPE) to those that need it.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw challenged the First Minister on whether the government had the right systems in place to deliver the vital equipment to those frontline workers most at risk.
“Obviously what I am concerned about is this ongoing issue with distribution because so many people are still contacting me directly to say they don't have it," he said. "I am not sure if I did hear when you felt you would be confident that there would be a permanently successful distribution strategy in place.
“Today's newspapers are full of reports that we might, understandably, be living under the lockdown for some weeks yet, so can I ask that, while this is first and foremost a public health decision, it is one that will be taken in lock-step as part of a four nation strategy across the UK and that we can all hope as a country to come out of this together?"
Ms Sturgeon said: “I certainly hope the UK will be able to come out of these lockdown measures in an orderly way that protects health and is mindful of the other impacts in a unified way.
“Let me be very clear, I don’t want these measures to be in place for a single minute longer than they have to be, but equally I don’t want us to come of them prematurely. That will do us damage and see the virus spiral out of control, see our NHS potentially overwhelmed and see more lives lost.
“There is no likelihood or prospect of these measures being lifted after the Easter weekend. I would certainly support starting to think about what the exit strategy would look like, but it is likely that restrictions and measures are going to be in place for some weeks to come yet.
“On the issue of PPE, you asked when can I be confident – we have improved the distribution and we continue to improve the distribution and I think we do, now, have an effective distribution system in place.
“I am not going to predict that there will never be any glitches or there will never be any problems, such is the scale and magnitude of what we are trying to achieve here – so we will continue to have an approach to quickly and effectively resolve any issues in distribution that arise.
“But do I believe that these systems are in place and in the main are working, but we want to hear on an ongoing basis if anybody on the frontline feels that they are not getting what they need.”
