First Minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed that the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic is, at times, overwhelming.

During an interview with Jennifer Reoch and Des Clarke on Heart Scotland Drive on Wednesday night, Nicola Sturgeon said that the worry of coronavirus, as well as having family members working on the front line, often takes its toll on her mental health.

The First Minister said: “It’s about always remembering that – and I know people struggle with the notion that politicians are human – but we’re human beings."

“There are moments when, over the last few weeks, when I’ve got home at night and just felt a little bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of it, and I’ve shed a few tears over the course of the last few weeks."

READ MORE: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's Heart Scotland interview in full

“But it’s really important – nobody wants me to be having a meltdown if I can avoid it – so I try to have these moments, not let them last too long, and pull myself together to get on with it.”

Ms Sturgeon added: “I’m trying to remind myself that there are aspects of this that are not normal, that are much bigger than anything I’ve dealt with before, so remembering that, I have to take time just to deal with that.”

The First Minister also discussed how proud she is of the thousands of volunteers who are selflessly helping during the pandemic and of how people and businesses who have helped at NHS Louisa Jordan.

Ms Sturgeon said: “We launched the ‘Scotland Cares’ campaign asking for people to volunteer and within hours of doing that we’d had thousands, tens of thousands of people doing it."

“I’ve visited the NHS Louisa Jordan, the new hospital, a week or so ago, complying with all social distancing when I did it, but seeing that, the construction, I’ve never seen a happier group of construction workers, people knowing that they were doing something that mattered and people going the extra mile.”

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“The place was full of, you know, things that companies had donated, for staff and people involved there, and in every single community right now there will be people looking out for others. I’m sure there’s people looking out for neighbours they’ve never spoken to before.”

“So, big and small, I think we’re really demonstrating what it means to be a community.”

Ms Sturgeon added about how emotional she feels, saying: “(The) Thursday night clap, I think has brought communities together, it’s actually, you were asking me about moments I felt emotional, I feel really emotional every Thursday night when we do that.”

“But health and care workers are really important but I think it’s also really important that we don’t forget other essential workers, those that are keeping food on the table, keeping the lights on, our police, our prison staff and prison officers.”

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