A CANDIDATE in George Galloway's Alliance for Unity party has accused Nicola Sturgeon of "inflating" Scotland's coronavirus figures.
There have been 21,397 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country and almost 2500 people have died following a positive test for the virus, according to official statistics. As many as 4228 deaths have mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate.
But prospective MSP Linda Holt, former depute leader of the Conservatives on Fife Council, has accused the First Minister of "panicking" on local lockdowns and presenting exaggerated data on the pandemic.
The councillor, who represents the East Neuk and Landward ward, announced her Alliance for Unity candidacy earlier this week. She will stand on the regional list for Mid-Scotland and Fife.
Appearing on YouTube programme The TNT Show on Wednesday, the councillor claimed the country's virus stats are "misleadingly high".
Holt stated: "The figures for infections, as far as I'm concerned, are misleadingly high because they discount the very large number of false positives, which all the scientists now admit, if you're not testing people who've definitely got very clear Covid symptoms you can have up to 50% false positives.
"And of course we've got no deaths. So these numbers we get every day from Nicola Sturgeon are actually inflated. The virus is absolutely on its way out as it is in all the other countries in Europe and we do not have to be having all those extra lockdowns and panicking as Nicola Sturgeon is."
She went on: "I've had enough, I think we can go back to life as normal."
Holt was speaking on the same day Sturgeon instituted tightened restrictions for more than 800,000 people in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire in response to growing case numbers there.
Under the two-week rules, people have been told not to visit each other's homes due to diagnoses linked to this practice.
That's in contrast to the bar closure rules enacted in Aberdeen after trace and protect measures proved a cluster there was connected to a number of city venues.
Sturgeon was forced to defend these actions on Thursday after Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden accused her of letting Glasgow off lightly as it is a "Yes city".
She said: "I've got to the point where I think if there's still people out there who are prepared to think I'm taking these decisions from some kind of crazy party political point of view, then they're always going to believe the worst of me, and there's probably nothing I can do to convince them.
“I hope that kind of view is the minority and I hope that the majority of reasonable people, whether you agree with my politics or not and whether you agree with the decisions I'm arriving at or not, do get a sense that we're trying to take them for the right reasons.”
Holt's comments also came before hundreds gathered in Edinburgh for an anti-lockdown protest on Saturday.
A total of 208 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Scotland in the 24 hours to Sunday, compared with 141 cases on Saturday. That marks the highest daily increase in cases since May.
The Scottish Government told The National: "Covid-19 is still a considerable and present danger to Scotland and the public health.
"The Covid-19 virus has led to the death of more than 2000 people in Scotland, and unless health and safety guidance is followed, the danger of transmission and infection is real.
"We have full confidence in the data on Covid-19 provided to the Scottish Government by Public Health Scotland, reported to by NHS Scotland and UK Government Regional Testing Centre laboratories, as well as the figures for the number of deaths in individuals who were laboratory confirmed with coronavirus, as reported to National Records of Scotland.
"Everyone should continue to follow the advice of the FACTS campaign - these are the rules we can all follow to reduce our own chances of getting or spreading the virus."
Galloway's newly-formed party promises to form a cross-party coalition to "secure the defeat of the SNP in May 2021 and an end to the Neverendum". It has declared no other policies.
Holt said: "Labour's going to be decimated and the Conservatives are going to win fewer seats than they won in the last election, so they can't stop the SNP.
"If what they sincerely want is the best government for Scotland and they also want to stop this constant agitation for a second independence referendum then what they have to do is work together, and George's intervention is forcing them to focus on that fact.
"People who vote for the Alliance for Unity will be sending those parties a message."
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