Nicola Sturgeon has said talk of “Freedom Day” is “not sensible” given the high daily numbers of covid cases.
The First Minister made a plea for caution as the Scotland prepared to move onto level Level 0 of its coronavirus restrictions on Monday and England readied to drop all precautionary measures.
As new figures showed around one in 90 people in Scotland are estimated to have had Covid-19 in the week to July 10, Sturgeon made a fresh plea for sticking to the rules, including the continuing wearing of facemasks in shops and on public transport.
The figure is up from one in 100 in the previous week and the highest level since the ONS infection survey began.
Sturgeon said the covid cases in Scotland were still too high.
She tweeted: “To talk of tomorrow as ‘freedom day’ (England only remember) is not sensible in my opinion, given current situation."
“Vaccines going well and do offer route through – but as we vaccinate, we must ease up gradually.”
She added: ” If you live in or visiting Scotland please abide by remaining safety measures.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer described the Tory government plans to lift “all restrictions” in England from Monday as a “mistake” and the “wrong thing to do”.
He said: “I’ve said consistently that lifting all restrictions in one go tomorrow is a mistake, it’s reckless.
“We can already see that the infection rates are going through the roof, we know what’s going to happen with hundreds of thousands of people being asked to self isolate.
“The Prime Minister is essentially putting the whole nation into a car, pressing the accelerator and taking the seatbelt off.”
