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Nicola Sturgeon has received mixed reviews of her management of the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland, with analysts praising her for her clear public message strategy while others denounced the government for negligence in care homes. Seething caller Clare from London hit out at the First Minister as she exposed the horrific difference in death rates between Scotland and countries with similar population sizes. Speaking to Jeremy Vine, Clare said: “Scotland’s only got about five million people living there, five and a half million.
“And yet we’ve had 2,500 deaths whereas Norway has got the same population and they only lost 255 people, 260.
“Look at New Zealand, they only lost 22.”
She continued: “She let it go through the care homes, her and Boris should hang their heads in shame for that.
“They should have been protecting those people.”
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Norway, which has the same population of 5.4 million Scotland reported in 2019, saw 265 people die of coronavirus-related causes and a total of 12,276 cases since the start of the pandemic.
New Zealand, with a smaller population at nearly 4.9 million, reported 24 deaths and 1,801 cases in total.
Scotland has however reported over 22,000 cases of COVID-19 since March, with numbers now once again increasing. Despite the surge, the number of deaths has remained stable at 2,499 for the past few days.
Latest data released from the Scottish Government on Monday showed 3,839 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported among care homes residents since March.
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Of those deaths in Scotland with a confirmed or suspected link to COVID-19, 46 percent were recorded among care homes residents.
An additional 70 people had tested positive between Sunday and Monday but the First Minister noted delays in returning tests had potentially affected the true number of new infections.
Ms Sturgeon said on Monday she had sought clarifications from the UK Government because of “serious concerns” about the impact the delays could have on isolation and care requirements.
She said: “We now have a very serious concern about the backlog of test results being faced by the UK lab network.
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“This apparent delay in turnaround is causing us concern.”
She continued: “It’s important that I am frank that we now have a very serious concern that the backlog of test results being faced by the UK lab network – which the Glasgow Lighthouse lab is part of – is starting to impact on the timeous reporting of Scottish results.
“We’ve been raising these concerns with the UK Government in recent days.
Indeed, over the weekend, the Health Secretary managed to resist a move to limit access to testing slots at mobile testing units and regional testing centres.”
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