THE CORONAVIRUS epidemic would have to be “wildly different” in Scotland for the country to follow an alternative coping strategy to the rest of the UK.

According to the interim Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Gregor Smith, there is no need for the Scottish Government to take a different approach to that of England, Wales and Northern Ireland unless the outbreak pattern differs greatly than elsewhere.

His comments to the Westminster science and technology committee yesterday come after Nicola Sturgeon published a 25-page framework document which sets out how Scotland could lift lockdown measures.

Stressing it was a high-level plan, the First Minister acknowledged that lifting the lockdown was not “like the flick of a switch” and said “a return to normal as we knew it is not on the cards in the near future.”

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However it prompted calls for UK health secretary Matt Hancock to publish a similar document showing what measures may be taken to lift the lockdown elsewhere, while he insisted the Scottish Government plan was the same as his own five measures set out two weeks ago.

Speaking to the committee by video yesterday afternoon Mr Smith and the CMOs from Wales and Northern Ireland were asked by SNP MP Pete Wishart whether they should follow an independent route out of lockdown.

The MP said: “As we start to think about coming out of lockdown, surely it would be practical for the four nations to determine their own approach to that given that each nation is in a different place on the curve and there is a disparity in the severity across all the nations of the United Kingdom.”

Mr Smith replied that “the science is the science no matter which part of the United Kingdom you’re in. “

He said that it was important to maintain a consistent message across the country, so people did not become confused.

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The CMO added: “There will be different stages to the epidemic in the UK but there is a value in making sure the messaging to the public [is consistent], so the measures are applied with consistency, and we see the right level of compliance form the public.

“Once you start to develop a mixed message there is always a risk that people will misunderstand the message, and wont know in one part of the country what they are supposed to do compared to another.”

Mr Smith explained that it is possible to take a different approach, but said “We should just be very confident that it is the right thing to do at that point in time.”

He said there had been a few times where Scotland had taken “a nuanced” approach, such as cancelling large gatherings before the rest of the UK, and said: “If that applies on the way in to the measures, it equally applies to the way out of the measures, however I would emphasise again there would need to be very good reason to make sure that was absolutely necessary.

“The differences might be that the stage of the epidemic was so wildly different in Scotland than in the rest of the country that there was a need to take a different approach, or the alternative is the approach taken in other parts of the UK was so different that it wouldn’t be right for Scotland. then we would apply the scientific evidence through the Scottish context, so we can give the right advice to our ministers.”

It also emerged at the committee that the devolved administrations’ CMOs were not consulted before Westminster announced the roll out of an online portal to expand testing for key workers on Thursday night.

The UK Government’s website for tests was overwhelmed during its first two minutes of operation yesterday when all 5000 home testing kits were ordered by eager members of the public.

The authorities later apologised after the site stopped taking bookings due to the unprecedented demand.

When Welsh CMO Dr Frank Atherton was asked by an MP whether the decision to launch the online portal was something which was “run past” him, he responded that while the four CMOs had been working well together and sharing information, some issues remained with administrations working together.

He explained: “I think we should distinguish between the sharing of science and understanding, and the sharing of policy.

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“Some of the areas like that portal were really not discussed in detail across the four nations.”There have been occasions where we would have liked it a little earlier notification of some of the practical details.”

Meanwhile, committee members quizzed English CMO Chris Whitty on why minutes from the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies (SAGE) had not been published for more than a month, and why membership of the group was being kept secret.

Committee chairman Greg Clark MP said it would boost confidence to know who was in Sage and what evidence they were using, “in keeping with the tradition of science of robust scrutiny and openness”.

Mr Clark suggested a similar model to the Scottish Government’s scientific advisory group, which publishes its minutes and membership details, would be welcome.

Professor Whitty said he agreed “ in principle” that the details should be made public, but added: “We were given quite clear advice from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure basically based on the fact that Sage e is a sub-committee of Cobra and meets under a range of circumstances, some of which are very security-related, this is not...The idea that it’s secret I think is rather strong. I suspect most members are actually known one way or another and all of the sub-committees are extremely open.”