On October 29, Nicola Sturgeon placed the country into a four-tier system in order to try and quell the spread of the virus. An Ipsos Mori poll conducted between November 10-15 of 1,037 adults in Scotland, showed 74 percent approved of how the First Minister has handled the virus – Boris Johnson recorded 19 percent. The Scottish Government also received 72 percent approval while Westminster registered just 25 percent.
Despite her efforts to reduce the death and infection rate in Scotland, the second wave of the virus has had a proportionally similar effect as in England.
Indeed, in the Office for National Statistics latest weekly roundup released on November 26, showed coronavirus positivity rates across England, Northern Ireland and Wales had all either begun to drop or levelled out.
In Scotland, however, rates increased to one in 115 people, only England has a higher rate with one in 85.
In further figures from the Office for National Statistics in the week leading to November 13, England showed 40 deaths per million people where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate.
In Scotland, 50 deaths per million were reported according to the figures.
Commenting on the differing views of the pandemic, Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University claimed Scotland had not done particularly well.
Professor Woolhouse told The Financial Times: “The tier system doesn’t seem to have had a profound effect.
“The course of the second wave has been pretty similar in Scotland and England.
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Linda Bauld, professor of public health at Edinburgh University, however, did state the way in which the Scottish Government had put out its messaging had been much clearer than Westminster.
She said: “These are important differences, but they are modest.”
According to UK Government figures, Scotland’s seven-day average for deaths has plummeted in the last two weeks in terms of deaths within 28 days of a positive test by date of death.
On November 11, the figure stood at 34.9 a day over a weeklong period but as of November 19 it now stands at 26.4.
However, when looking at the deaths by date reported, Scotland’s seven-day average has continued to remain steady.
It currently stands at 31 and has failed to drop below 30 since November 7.
