Following a Cobra meeting, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has today announced that Scotland is preparing to move to the 'delay' phase of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in a dramatic escalation of the response to the outbreak so far.
Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that - from the start of next week - Scotland will ban mass gatherings of 500 or more people that have an impact on emergency services, but schools will remain open for the present time.
'Delay' is an admission that the outbreak is already established, but is yet to peak. You can follow our constantly updated coronavirus live blog for the latest news from Scotland. Three new Lothians cases of COVID-19 were confirmed today, as well as two new cases of community transmission, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed in the briefing.
This is a step up from the previous 'containment' phase (where cases are identified and people isolated as a result, with their close contacts traced). The 'delay' phase will involve the promotion of home working, restrictions on mass gatherings, and other measures.
The First Minister went on to say much of their focus for the weeks to come will include measures to protect vulnerable groups.
She added: "The new advice is that if you have symptoms that are indicative of coronavirus you should self-isolate for seven days: specifically a fever or a persistent cough."
She says the government will not be routinely testing everyone that shows symptoms, but they will continue to do sample testing to improve their understanding of the disease.
Overseas school trips to be halted
They also advise that overseas school trips should not be going ahead and the Foreign Office will issue more information about that shortly.
She's stressed that is not government advice that schools and colleges will be closed at present but it will be put under constant review. This is guided by "scientific advice" they have access to, namely that closing schools will lead to gathering in more informal settings which actually may be more of a risk of them contracting the infection"
At the beginning of the week, Boris Johnson said that containment was "extremely unlikely to work on its own" and that "extensive preparations" were underway to move to the "delay" phase.
The World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday (11 March), on the same day that the Scottish government confirmed that the first case of person-to-person transmission (community spread) had been confirmed in Scotland. There are now two additional examples of community spread.
The new measures come as confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK reach 590 people, and two more fatalities have taken the number of people to die in UK hospitals to 10.
They were both over 70 and had underlying health conditions.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously said that the peak of the UK outbreak was expected "in a matter of a couple of months".
He told MPs he was meeting the opposition "first thing" on Thursday to discuss emergency laws that will be set out next week, adding: "The best way for us to beat it is for us to work together."
Teachers in some schools have said that they are getting ready to continue classes remotely.
One teacher told the Mirror : “Schools in our local authority area - both primary and secondary – are drawing up plans for children to be given lessons at home.
“This will come in the shape of material drawn up by staff in advance in the form of set work from the curriculum on paper and also online work.
“Schools are drawing up lists of all children who have access to the internet at home even if it is via a parent or guardian’s phone."
Teachers at two separate London schools told the Sun Online they were getting ready for pupils to learn at home.
Elsewhere in the world, Spain’s health ministry said the number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country had risen to 2,968, and that 84 people had died a sharp increase from 47 the previous day.
All schools, nurseries and universities in the Madrid region have been shut until 23 March, and all gatherings of more than 1,000 people banned.
.A large outbreak in Italy has led to 10,149 cases and 631 deaths – the whole country is under lockdown with travel restrictions.
Iran has 9,000 cases and 354 deaths.
Yesterday (11 March), World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.
“We have therefore made the assessment Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic.
“It is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.
“Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this coronavirus.”
