Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government is preparing for a ‘significant outbreak’ of the coronavirus in Scotland after the first case was diagnosed in Tayside.
The First Minister said she expects “further” cases after an initial case was confirmed yesterday.
She spoke after she took part in a Cobra meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Sturgeon said the country was still in the “containment” phase, which would be followed by a “delayed” phase.
It is in this second phase, she said, that decisions would be made about whether large scale events could proceed.
Scotland’s chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood warned that ‘peak’ infection rate could be up to 80% of the population across the UK.
She also estimated up to 250,000 people could face a hospital admission.
She said a plan involving all the nations in the UK had been agreed.
Speaking at Government headquarters in Edinburgh, she also stressed the importance of hygiene advice, such as hand washing.
Sturgeon also said the international climate change conference in Glasgow would go ahead in November, “as things stand” as well as the France versus Scotland rugby match.
Meanwhile, no plans are in place to cancel court business as a result of Coronavirus. A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts Service said: “There is no current proposal to postpone trials or hearings. We are alert to the current government and medical advice and cases will be considered in line with that advice.”
