Scotland’s First Minster Nicola Sturgeon has said the country is in the “containment phases” of dealing with coronavirus.
Speaking at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh alongside Health Secretary Jeane Freeman and Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood, she said Scotland was not at the stage of having to cancel major events.
She said: “We are not at that stage yet and decisions about if and when we reach that stage and what the implications will be will be guided very firmly by the scientific advice the four governments are receiving.”
She also confirmed that the Tayside patient involved in the first confirmed case in Scotland is “not seriously ill at this stage”. She said the patient is in hospital as a precautionary measure.
“That is not necessarily going to be the case going forward for future cases,” she said, explaining that people will be told to self-isolate “unless there is a clinical need for them to be in hospital”.
The First Minister said the Scottish Government is expecting a “significant outbreak of coronavirus”.
She said: “We would expect to see further cases confirmed in the days to come.”
She added that the Government is “planning for the likelihood of a significant outbreak of coronavirus”.
Ms Sturgeon was earlier invited to join the UK Government COBRA meeting chaired by Boris Johnson.
