Parts of Scotland could go into Level 2 at end of April, says Professor Leitch
The First Minister told Parliament yesterday she hoped the whole country will move into level 3 come that time
Last updated 24th Feb 2021
Scotland's National Clinical Director says parts of the country could move straight into level 2 at the end of April.
The First Minister told Parliament yesterday she hoped all authorities in Scotland will move into level 3 come that time.
That's when parts of the economy could begin to reopen, such as hospitality and retail.
Professor Jason Leitch said less restrictive rules for parts of the country would be based on a number of factors.
"You might move at the end of April straight to level 2, depending on the prevalence, the positivity, the nature of the hospital services etc and vaccination and new variants.
January 2019
Chinese state media reported the first known death from Covid-19 on 11 January 2020. The city of Wuhan was closed off by Chinese authorities on 23 January 2020, cancelling all transport entering and leaving the city. In January, the WHO also declared Covid-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
December 2020
The UK became the first country in the world to approve a vaccine against Covid-19 for use in December. Vaccinations began on 8 December 2020, when 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first person outside of a clinical trial to receive the jab. Later on in the month, the UK approved a second vaccine, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. However, it wasn't all good news, as a new variant of Covid-19 was also discovered in December, which was much more transmissible than the original strain.
January 2021
In January 2021, the mass vaccine roll out began across the UK. However, all four nations all went back into full lockdown as the UK entered a second wave of the virus, with the peak surpassing that of the first wave in April. The UK also reached the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths.
"There's two sides to this, there's all the hopeful news around vaccination and falling prevalence but I've got to balance that with new variants, travel restrictions, hoping the virus doesn't mutate away from us again.
"That's why each three week review becomes absolutely crucial for us. The scenario of being able to travel a little bit more is absolutely fair."