Professor Jason Leitch says Scotland could diverge from rest of UK on lifting lockdown

Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s National Clinical Director, told the BBC that the country could diverge from the rest of the UK when it eventually lifts its lockdown.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, Professor Leitch said: “If it’s in Scotland’s interests to do something different,” then he would advise the First Minister to do it.

It comes as Ministers are expected to agree to a three-week extension to the UK-wide restrictions later today.

The capital's streets have been almost empty during the lockdown. | Other 3rd Party

“I think as we come out of the curve there may be some differences,” Professor Leitch said, “mainly geographic.”

“Orkney looks quite different from Oxford Street. It’s important to do what applies in your context,” he added.

Predicting that full lockdown measures would not be lifted quickly, he said: “I don’t think we’ll release everything on the one day.”

“We’ll make gradual, step changes to the way we release our countermeasures.”

Despite the planned three-week extension, the professor told interviewers that the restrictions appeared to be working.

He said that scientists believed Scotland’s R0 number - the number of people that each infected person goes on to infect - was below one.

“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if that’s below one your curve will begin to fall because you will have less infected people,” he said.

“But,” he insisted, “we have to keep that sustained for a period of time for the numbers to fall.”

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Frank O'Donnell

Editorial Director