Dundee City Council’s leader has blasted “ignorant, ill-informed” people flouting coronavirus rules.
John Alexander has received a number of letters, including one which claims lockdown is “part of a wider conspiracy with aliens at the top of the tree”.
Mr Alexander said everyone had a part to play in sticking to strict measures aimed at reducing the time the country will spend in lockdown.
He said: “The question everybody should be asking themselves is not ‘what can I get away with, what can I do’, but instead, ‘should I be doing it in the first place?’
“That’s a personal responsibility I take very seriously, I know the vast majority of people in the city do as well.
“The reason we are continuing to see cases and the strain on NHS services is because a small percentage of the population haven’t been following the guidance to the letter.
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“I spoke with the Tele when we were at Level 3 in Dundee, and we were talking about the fact that if we want to get out of this sooner, and everybody stuck to the rules, the case numbers would drop through the floor, we’d be back to some degree of normality, sooner rather than later.”
Mr Alexander used New Zealand as an example of another island country whose government “took a really strict approach” and closed its borders.
‘Nobody wants to be in this position’
Mr Alexander added: “If either government measures or social compliance don’t work, then we are going to continue to be in this position for a long period of time.”
“I think there’s already a question mark about how long this latest lockdown is going to last.
“Inevitably it’s having a severe impact – economically, on health and wellbeing, mental health in particular, and education as well. Nobody wants to be in this position.”
The Strathmartine councillor said “alarms bells should be ringing” as the NHS’s capacity reaches near breaking point.
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Discussing conspiracy theories that have emerged online, the council leader was extremely scathing of those sharing and believing “fake news”.
Multiple videos posted online claim to show empty hospitals in the UK as evidence that the coronavirus pandemic has been exaggerated.
‘We’re not going to solve stupid’
“Part of the problem is, people believe too much of what they read on social media,” Mr Alexander said.
“Somebody going about a hospital recording with their mobile phone claiming that’s the true picture is nonsense, because we all know other operations and other services within NHS facilities have been cancelled or reduced.
“They are focusing their efforts in some ways on dealing with the Covid situation, so you wouldn’t expect to see overflowing wards, because we don’t want Covid patients in the middle of hallways; that’s just nonsensical.
“Unfortunately, the problem is, we’re not going to solve stupid, and there are, quite frankly, a number of people who are ignorant, ill-informed and I can’t even entertain any of their discussions or ideas or discussion points.
“We’re not going to change their minds; there are folk that have absolutely resigned themselves to (the fact that) this is a mass conspiracy,
“I’ve had emails from individuals, I kid you not, claiming aliens are involved in what’s going on right now, and it’s part of a wider conspiracy with aliens at the top of the tree – national government slightly further down.”
