UNPRECEDENTED in our lifetime – Nicola Sturgeon said Scots will face “extremely difficult” times that will continue for months as coronavirus control measures increase.

The First Minister updated the nation yesterday after the number of positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland rose to 171. As many as 4895 people have now been tested and one person has died.

Just two of the country’s 14 health boards – Orkney and the Western Isles – are without a single case and most of those found so far are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood said there is now “sustained evidence of community transmission” within the country and Sturgeon said Scotland is “now at the cusp of a very rapid acceleration of the virus” and “could see cases double every five days”.

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Urging the public to get behind the Scottish Government’s action plan aimed at reducing the number of people who will die from coronavirus, she said: “I’m acutely aware of the anxiety people feel right now.

I don’t mean to be trite or cliched in any way when I say we are all in this together.”

She went on: “None of us wanted to be in this position. It is, in our lifetimes, an unprecedented situation.”

The comments came as UK adopted new restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the illness.

All citizens are now asked to avoid “non-essential contact” and not to engage in “unnecessary travel”, avoiding pubs, restaurants and other venues. And all persons within a household in which an individual develops Covid-19 symptoms – including a persistent dry cough and fever – are to stay at home for 14 days.

Boris Johnson issued that advice in a separate press conference shortly before Sturgeon’s, adding that for affected persons: “If possible you should not go out, even to buy food or essentials, other than for exercise and in that case at a safe distance from others.”

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By the weekend, it is expected that this will extend again to “ensure that those with the most serious health conditions are largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks”, Johnson said: “We want to ensure that this period of shielding, this period of maximum protection, coincides with the peak of the disease.”

People showing symptoms in Scotland are asked not to phone NHS 24 or call their GPs unless their symptoms worsen or they have underlying health problems.

Those with minor symptoms are no longer routinely tested for the virus, with emphasis moving to hospital patients.

Yesterday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged countries to “test, test, test – test every suspected case, if they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in contact with two days before they developed symptoms and test those people too”.

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In her late afternoon conference, Sturgeon said she is “seeking further advice as to whether there’s more we should be doing” on testing.

But she urged the public to get behind the Scottish Government’s action plan aimed at reducing the number of people who will die from coronavirus.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman will update the Scottish Parliament today, with updates to the public to be made every 24 hours.

Sturgeon said this “extremely difficult period” is likely to continue for “months”, but insisted: “We can get through this and we will get through this.”