NICOLA Sturgeon downplayed talk of a row with Boris Johnson yesterday, but the two governments have diverged over whether or not the UK has passed the peak of the coronavirus.
The First Minister said that, while there was light at the end of the tunnel, it was wrong to suggest the country was “past the point of danger”.
On Thursday night, at his first press conference since returning to work after his own person battle with Covid 19, the Prime Minister “confirmed” that Britain had passed “the peak of this disease”.
He added: “We’ve come through the peak, or rather, we’ve come under what could have been a vast peak, as though we’ve been going through some huge Alpine tunnel.
“And we can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us, and so it is vital that we do not now lose control and run slap into a second, even bigger mountain.”
Later that night a source close to Sturgeon said that they were worried Johnson’s claim could hamper efforts to keep the public observing social distancing rules.
Asked about the comment at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, the First Minister said she believes Scotland is not yet past the “danger point” of the virus.
Sturgeon said: “I’ve been asked if I believe we’re past the peak of this virus and I’ve hesitated to use that language.
“The reason I’ve hesitated to use it is I think it perhaps sends the message that we’re past the danger point and we’re not past the danger point of this virus running out of control yet.”
She added: “That light at the end of the tunnel is there but we’ll only keep it there if we keep doing the things that we’re asking people to do.”
The First Minister declined to criticise the Prime Minister.
READ MORE: Piers Morgan BACKS Nicola Sturgeon in 'past the peak' row with PM
She said: “What I’m choosing to say to people, and it’s not trying to extinguish the positive, I’m desperate for the positive news as much as everybody is, but it’s about how we protect that positive news and build on it and if we want to do that then we’ve got to keep doing the right thing.”
She added: “I’m choosing to use my own words, and articulate it in my own way as he is doing. We’re not robots.
“I’m not convinced that there is a huge substantive difference in what we’re saying, but I will continue to choose my own words and say things in my own way.
“And the most important message I want to get across, particularly on a Friday afternoon as we’re going into the weekend, is please if you find yourself going out a bit more than you were a week or two weeks ago, if you find yourself being in contact with more people than you were a week or two weeks ago, then please think carefully about that and try to pull that back into line.”
Currently, the R number for coronavirus – effectively how many people one infected person will pass the virus on to – is averaging at just under one.
Sturgeon said the difference between an R number at just under one and a R number at just over one was the difference “between the virus in decline and the virus exponentially growing again”.
She added: “There is light at the end of the tunnel, I think that’s what the Prime Minister was trying to say, it’s what I’m trying to say, but it’s too early to say that that light is not going to be extinguished so please keep at it.”
Scotland’s interim chief medical officer, Gregor Smith, told journalists: “We’ll only know we’re past the peak when we’re out on the other side because the margins are so small.”
Later, on Twitter, the First Minister said: “My concern about ‘past the peak’ is that it could imply we’re past the point of danger. We’re not – progress is fragile and if we ease up it will be reversed. So we need to encourage maximum compliance.”
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