Nicola Sturgeon adviser warns Scotland to take cautious approach despite Covid vaccine progress

A key adviser to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has declared a strong testing system is needed as she warned Scotland to take a cautious approach to easing lockdown despite progress with vaccines.

Professor Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University, said mutated variants of Covid-19 were still a major risk as Scotland’s youngest pupils – those at nursery level and from P1 to P3 – prepare to return to school on Monday.

Speaking to Sky News, Prof Sridhar said moving too quickly in releasing lockdown could still put too much pressure on hospitals despite vaccines helping with death rates.

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She said: “What gets us with this virus is the hospitalisation rate and how many people are susceptible.

Pupils during a lesson in a classroom. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA WirePupils during a lesson in a classroom. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire
Pupils during a lesson in a classroom. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire

“Hospitalisations do go down to people in their 30s and 40s, which means that is what we’re going after. Of course [there’s] the deaths, but also the hospitals being full and not being able to provide routine care for all the things we need the NHS for.”

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Specially addressing the return of younger pupils to school in the first step of gradually easing lockdown, Prof Sridhar said the Scottish Government’s phased approach was better than the plans being made by the UK Government.

Boris Johnson’s Government is planning to allow all children in England to return to school from March 8.

The EIS teaching union has raised concerns about school safety in Scotland, claiming having about half of pupils in classes at any one time would be more appropriate.

Prof Sridhar said: “We’re learning from Denmark, who are ahead of us by several weeks and also have the new variant.

“The new variant is creating uncertainty, which means we have to go more cautiously. There is a huge risk from bringing all kids back at the same time and then having to shut schools again.

"We’re trying here to move slowly, to move cautiously, to get as many kids back as is possible, but in a slow, staged way.”

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Speaking separately to Sky's Sophy Ridge show, Prof Sridhar said: "The question is how do we ease restrictions in a one-way process – we don't see a third wave over the next few months while the vaccine's rolled out."That requires a strong, test, trace and isolate system, especially supporting people in isolating more, as well as mass testing to really hit higher prevalence areas."

Prof Sridhar said the UK would have to consider vaccination rates in poorer countries once rates were "super low" at home.

She said 130 states around the world did not currently have any vaccines at all.

As well as the "moral" argument around vaccinating people abroad, she said the UK should consider its own self-interest in preventing new strains from emerging and addressing geopolitical competition.

Prof Sridhar said: "We are seeing Russia and China donating their vaccines to low-income countries for clear geopolitical reasons.

"We've heard with the G7 going on that there is concern about what will it mean for the influence of European and North American countries if China and Russia are seen as being the most reliable support rather than the western world."

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