HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman has said she will not ease restrictions for shielding Scots until she is sure it is safe to do so.

Her comments came as, in a surprise announcement, the UK Government relaxed rules for the 2.2 million people shielding in England.

From today they will be allowed to go outside with members of their household as long as they continue to follow physical distancing guidelines.

Those who live alone will be allowed to meet one person from another household outdoors.

Freeman refused to be drawn on whether she thought the English approach was safe, but she made it very clear that she judged that it was too risky for a similar announcement for Scotland.

She did, however, raise the prospect of a tailored approach, with some people, with certain conditions which aren’t as vulnerable to Covid-19 as first thought, being allowed to come off the shielding list sooner.

Earlier in the day Professor Peter Openshaw, who sits on the UK Government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group suggested the guidance could be “fine tuned” for people, such as asthma and some cancer patients, who are “not as vulnerable as we thought”.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing, Freeman said: “I know that for the last three months, more than any other group of people, the restrictions that we have asked those in the shielding group to follow have been incredibly difficult. I also know that it’s tough for you to see restrictions being eased on those who are less at risk. And that you want clarity about when you can start to lead a less restrictive life.

“We will provide you with that information over the course of the next few weeks, we have not forgotten about you, but I want to stress that the changes the UK Government announced yesterday are for England only. They do not apply in Scotland.”

She said the Government would try to move away from a “blanket approach which requires all of you to stay at home all of the time to one that reflects the latest clinical evidence and your individual circumstances”.

Speaking about the decision to allow shielded people in England to leave their homes, the Scottish Health Secretary would only say: “I don’t know what information or evidence they may have been looking at in order to reach the view that they have reached. I can’t comment any more on that.”

Scotland’s clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, said he worried about the shielded group, and that any changes to advice would be about balancing the risk: “I have friends and family in the shielded group and I don’t like the fact that we’ve had to be so draconian with the advice to that group.

“In terms of timing, the Scottish shielding advice finishes on June 16. And we have, up to this point, I hope you agree, given people time to adjust to change.

“So we don’t tend to announce something on one day, and expect it to happen that day.”

Patients groups and doctors were left stunned by the UK Government’s announcement. Dr Stephen Griffin, an associate professor at Leeds University’s school of medicine, said it lacked “any obvious rationale”.