NICOLA Sturgeon has warned the country that lifting any of the lockdown restrictions any time soon might be impossible because the margins of manoeuvre are “very, very, very tight and narrow”.

Speaking in a pre-recorded interview on ITV’s Peston, the First Minister also insisted her advice on people wearing face coverings in restricted public places was “right for Scotland” but stressed she was not being critical of the UK Government’s approach for England.

In the interview, Ms Sturgeon said: “People talk about lifting the lockdown, that is not going to be a flick of the switch moment; we're going to have to be very careful, very slow, very gradual.

“I'm far from convinced at this stage that when we get to the next review point on May 7, we'll be in a position to lift any of these measures right now because the margins of manoeuvre that we're operating in right now are very, very, very tight and narrow."

Asked if she believed the UK Government had changed the language of the fifth test in order to prioritise protecting the NHS, the FM replied: "It is necessary to have as an objective not overwhelming the NHS but not sufficient to have that as your only objective.

“Because if you take the situation in Scotland right now, and this will be similar across the UK, we have the numbers of people in intensive care around just over 100 but we've got a capacity in intensive care of nearly 600. So, if your only objective was not overwhelming the NHS, I could say to you, well we could afford to have the numbers of people in intensive care quadrupling, and we still wouldn't be overwhelming the NHS."

On masks, asked why her advice to the Scottish public in certain situations differed from that of the UK Government, Ms Sturgeon replied: "It's right for Scotland and many of these responsibilities are within devolved responsibility here so I am accountable to the people of Scotland for these decisions.

“Now, the UK Government is taking a different decision as far as England is concerned. At the moment, I don't know; they may change that in future, and I'm not criticising them for that, we're all looking at the same advice on face masks, face coverings, just to be precise about this.

“The science is not overwhelming but the evidence and the scientific advice that we've seen says that there is some benefit from people, if they are having to be in enclosed spaces with other people, and it's not easy to socially distance, there is some benefit from wearing a cloth face covering.

“And to be clear what that benefit is: it's if you have the virus but you might not know it because you don't have symptoms, so you're not isolating as you should be if you have symptoms, then wearing that mask doesn't give you protection but it might reduce the chance of you passing on the virus to somebody else. Now my view is that if there is any benefit to be had from that, we should do it, which is why I made that recommendation."

The SNP leader was informed that in England inquests were being told not to look at a shortage of PPE when determining how people have died and was asked if that shortage might be a relevant consideration in Scottish fatal accident inquiries.

"Absolutely,” she declared but stressed she did not want to say much more because she had not heard about the development.

“But we also have a different system in Scotland. Fatal accident inquiries are held at the instruction of the Lord Advocate here and any remit would be set by them. But in general terms, I don't think in a situation like this, it wouldn't seem to me…to be logical to say that an inquest as it is in England or a fatal accident inquiry here couldn't look at PPE if they thought that was relevant to somebody's death."