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.

“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.”

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

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