UK live coronavirus: too early to reopen schools in Scotland, says Scottish government | Politics

In the commons Matt HancockThe health secretary said he could consider a proposal for a national arboretum memorial commemorating those essential workers who have lost their lives to the coronavirus. I was answering a question from the Conservative MP Heather Wheeler, who said such a memorial would be “an appropriate way to commemorate the sad loss of essential workers for Covid-19.”

Q: What options will be available to parents who do not want to send their children to school?

Sturgeon He says he has to act in partnership with the public. She suggests that there would be no point in saying that students should return to school if parents did not trust that decision.

Sturgeon He says Scotland is “at a critical moment.”

You can continue to progress. Or else it could get to the point where the blocking measures have to be reimposed, she says.

Q: Could construction sites be some of the first places to come out of the blockade?

Sturgeon It says this is covered in the document. She will proceed at a rate that is safe.

Q: How do you respond to the Scottish secretary’s criticism of your approach? (See 11.17am.)

Sturgeon says that she has tried to avoid partisan politics.

She says that both the argument that Scotland has to follow the UK exactly, and the argument that it has to do its own thing, are wrong.

She will do what is right for Scotland, she says.

She says a Sunday newspaper (the Sunday Telegraph) said schools should open in early June.

She does not know what is right for England, she says.

But she says she cannot “tell the heart” that would be safe for Scotland.

Q: The UK government has not released a document like this. Are you looking at ideas like this?

Sturgeon He says he believes that governments around the world face all the same problems, and he says he thinks everyone is looking for the same possible solutions.

But she says she doesn’t know what Boris Johnson is considering.

She says she wants to get out of the running of the bulls at the right pace. If that means doing it differently than the rest of the UK, that’s what you should be doing. If that means doing it differently in different parts of Scotland, that would also be correct.

Q: What advice do you have for companies where social distancing is not possible?

Sturgeon says it has to be safe.

She says that it might be possible to use PPE in some places where social distancing is not possible, such as for hairdressers (an example cited by the interrogator).

She says it may not be possible to introduce these measures now. But if they do the detailed work now, then relaxing measures might be possible later.

In your briefing Nicola’s sturgeon now he’s taking questions.

Q: How long do you need sustained evidence that R is below 1 before you can lift the blocking measures?

Sturgeon says this is for expert advice.

She says that every time schools open, there will be an impact on the number R. But if R is 0.2, that won’t get you into the danger zone. If it’s 0.8, it will.

She says that in Denmark the returning schools have led to the R number going up.

Fundamentally we have to base these decisions on what the evidence in Scotland tells us.

Q: What will the school year be like next year?

Sturgeon says the document looks at options for different groups of years.

There will need to be more social distancing, she says.

She says the surfaces will have to be cleaned properly.

As for the dates, she cannot say.

But, as soon as the evidence is developed, she will make it available to the public.

A total of 1,620 patients died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, an increase of 44 from 1,576 on Monday, Nicola Sturgeon announced.

The prime minister said 12,437 people had tested positive for the virus in Scotland, an increase of 171 compared to 12,266 the day before.

There were 104 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, up from five the day before, he added.

There are 1,656 people in the hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 64.

And since March 5, 2,847 people who tested positive for coronavirus have been able to leave the hospital.