Coronavirus: Deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland rise by just one - but Sturgeon warns rule-breakers - Sky News

There was just one recorded death of a person with coronavirus in Scotland in the last 24 hours - but First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned progress made against COVID-19 was "not irreversible".

Speaking at the Scottish government's daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said the latest figures showed "real progress" in stopping the spread of the disease.

A total of 2,363 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for COVID-19, up by one from 2,362 on Sunday.

The number of people who have tested positive in Scotland rose by 18 to 15,418.

Elsewhere in the UK:

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• NHS England announced 108 new deaths of people who had tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 26,722.
• Public Health Wales said a further five people had died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,347.
• Northern Ireland recorded one more death of a person who had tested positive, taking its total to 524.

Image: Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the virus has not been completely eliminated

Despite the relatively small increases in deaths and new cases, Ms Sturgeon warned: "The virus has been suppressed, but it has not gone away and it is still extremely dangerous."

Since Friday, people in Scotland from two households have been able to gather outdoors in groups of up to eight, as long as they maintain social distancing.

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Sitting and sunbathing in local parks is now also allowed but, while no legal limit has been placed on how far people will be allowed to travel for recreation, the Scottish government's "strong advice" is to stay within five miles.

The measures form phase one of the Scottish government's four-step plan for easing the lockdown.

On Monday, Ms Sturgeon thanked the "vast majority" of people for following the new measures, but said there were instances of people breaking the rules as she warned lockdown restrictions could be toughened.

There were 797 dispersals by Police Scotland on Saturday alone, five times higher than the figure from the previous Saturday.

Traffic statistics reported at the briefing were also a "cause for concern", the first minister added, with road use on Sunday up by 70% on the previous Sunday and a 60% increase on Saturday from the week before.

Traffic on the A82 near Loch Lomond and on the roads around Glencoe was three times higher on Saturday than it had been the previous Saturday.

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"Let me be very blunt here - it's very hard to see how all of that could have been caused by local residents or by people travelling a reasonable distance to meet loved ones," Ms Sturgeon said.

She added: "It's worth being clear, in fact I have a duty to be clear with you, that if there is continued evidence of even a minority not abiding by these guidelines and travelling unnecessarily, if people meet up in larger groups or if they're making journeys which risk spreading this virus, we will have to put these restrictions on group size and travel distance into law.

"We won't hesitate to do that if we think it's necessary for the collective safety and wellbeing of the population."

Ms Sturgeon said it was "not because I want to be imposing these restrictions, but it is because the progress we've made so far in tackling COVID-19 is simply not guaranteed and it is not irreversible".

The latest UK-wide figures from across all settings will be updated at Number 10's daily briefing later on Monday.

This week from today to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After The Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.

We'll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too.

If you'd like to be in our virtual audience - from your own home - and put questions to the experts, email afterthepandemic@sky.uk

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2020-06-01 13:39:08Z
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