MSPs told 'circuit breaker' lockdown may help slow Covid-19 spread
A so-called circuit breaker lockdown could be part of the answer to tackling the growth of Covid-19 in Scotland, a top adviser to ministers has said.
National clinical director Professor Jason Leitch appeared before MSPs to discuss the possibility of such a measure, which could see Scotland back in strict lockdown for a short period of two to three weeks.
He told the committee: "A circuit breaker is not the answer, the answer is whole population measures all the time until we get science to get us out the other end.
"A circuit breaker would just be a help on the way potentially.''
He was speaking after Deputy First Minister John Swinney told the Covid-19 Committee at Holyrood that no decision has been made on whether to introduce the measure.
Mr Swinney said some "detailed work'' is being undertaken on such a move, which he described as a "more aggressive interruption of the development of the pandemic''.
A circuit breaker lockdown may or may not see schools ordered to shut, the Deputy First Minister said.
Mr Swinney, who is also the Education Secretary, told the committee: "Frankly the last thing I want to have to do is to close schools. We have gone to a great deal of effort with the support of staff, local authorities, parents and pupils to reopen our schools.
"Generally that process has gone well, attendance is high, there is very little evidence on in-school transmission of the virus, it is miniscule evidence of in-school transmission of the virus.''
Ministers are "constantly considering whether there is a need for us to take more or less action'' to deal with coronavirus, he said, adding the suggestion of having "some form of circuit breaker in October'' had come from expert scientists at advisory group Sage.
Mr Swinney said he would not describe this as a "specific proposition'', saying it was instead "more the raising of the possibility that if the pandemic continues to grow at an accelerating rate in the period going forward, there may be a necessity to take some of what I would describe as interruptive action to try to slow further and more aggressively the development of the pandemic''.
He stressed to MSPs: "No decisions have been taken for that to be the case.
"The suggestion has been made, the elements and the circumstances are being explored, but it would be dependent on two fundamental elements being made more certain.
"One was whether there was a necessity for such an interruptive action of that type, and secondly some detailed work, which is being considered, on what that might involve.''
Prof Leitch said there is a "difficult balance'' to be achieved in considering whether such a move should be recommended.
He told the committee: "Some modellers suggest you should do it repeatedly, so you would do two weeks, open for a period, then two weeks again, but that has implications for economy, implications for society, implications for schools.
"So it is a very difficult balance about whether we think this new iconic measure would be something we would recommend for Scotland.
"The decision makers would then have to decide whether to do it or not.''
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