NICOLA Sturgeon has said that Scotland is currently doing “far better” than England in terms of suppressing the spread of Covid through the population.

The First Minister’s statement came in response to a journalist’s question at today’s coronavirus briefing.

After referencing the fact that Scotland has a lower population density than England, the journalist asked: “Shouldn’t Scotland be doing far better than England in terms of suppressing the virus?”

“We are doing far better right now in terms of suppressing the virus,” the First Minister responded.

Sturgeon added that she did not see that as “any kind of boast, nor any kind of reason for complacency” and that her comments were not meant to be taken as criticisms of other governments' approaches.

READ MORE: FACT CHECK: Has England really coped better than Scotland in second Covid wave?

She said: “This is a daily battle to keep this virus suppressed and prevalence rates are much lower in Scotland than in other parts of the UK.”

Recent figures from the UK Government suggest that, over the past 7 days, Scotland has recorded 100.7 coronavirus cases per 100,000 of the population.

Over the same period, England has recorded 149.2 cases per 100,000, Northern Ireland 150.6, and Wales 297.4.

Over the entirety of the pandemic, according to those same UK Government statistics, Scotland has recorded 1857.4 Covid cases per 100,000 people. This is the lowest of the UK nations. England has recorded 2667 per 100,000 people, Wales 2911.4, and Northern Ireland 2946.4.

Scotland has a population density of 65 people per square kilometre compared to England’s 432, Wales’s 151, and Northern Ireland’s 133.

Scotland’s average is brought down massively by the sparsely populated Highlands and Islands, where population density is as low as eight people per square kilometre. In contrast, Northumberland, England’s least densely populated county, has 64 people per square kilometre.

Nicola Sturgeon said she didn’t think any country had “the perfect way of doing things”, but said that Scotland’s “steady approach” would so far have been “working to keep the virus at a more suppressed level”.

The First Minister was also asked if the Scottish Government guidelines, which currently allow for travel from one Scottish area in level 2 or lower to another, but not for travel over the Border, were discriminating against southern Scots communities.

The journalist said concerns had been raised by Labour MSP Colin Smyth, and asked if he had a point.

READ MORE: Scotland's second Covid wave caused by UK and overseas travel, experts say

Sturgeon responded: “No, he really doesn’t. There’s no aspect of my or our decision making here which is about discriminating against anybody.”

The First Minister stressed how Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, had just finished explaining the conclusions of an in-depth report which used genetic sequencing to determine what had caused the second wave of Covid to hit Scotland.

That report concluded that travel, both from outside of and within the UK, was to blame for the coronavirus’s resurgence north of the Border.

Sturgeon said that the report meant it was not unreasonable to conclude that “we should have been much, much tougher on travel restrictions earlier in the year”.

“We’ve got to learn lessons from that, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” she went on.

“If you’re being restricted from traveling it’s not because we are discriminating against you or anybody else it’s because we are trying to keep you as safe as possible from this virus.”