Scotland could have fewer Coronavirus deaths
An expert's predicting Scotland's Coronavirus death rate will be lower than the rest of the UK because lockdown measures were introduced at an earlier stage.
The spread of the virus north of the border is believed to be lagging around six to seven days behind London.
Hospitality premises were ordered to shut on the same weekend across the UK as part of social distancing restrictions, with the public also told to stay at home as much as possible.
However, the Herald reports it is thought these interventions will be more effective in Scotland as it was behind the rest of the country in the epidemic curve.
Professor Jimmy Whitworth, an expert in international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the newspaper: "The epidemic is at an earlier stage in Scotland than in England, certainly than London and the south-east which seems to have had the initial burst of cases.
"It is pretty clear when you look at the data for different countries that the earlier you introduce these measures the more effective they are, so in that respect if they were introduced in Scotland - or Scotland was part of them - at an earlier stage then it will have had more effect.
"Overall, you don't get such high peaks in your case numbers and your deaths.''
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