Face coverings to be compulsory in shops but two-metre social distancing rule likely to be relaxed
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed beer gardens can open from Monday, with self catering accommodation able to welcome tourists from tomorrow.
At today's Scottish Government coronavirus briefing the First Minister also said the five-mile travel distance for leisure would be dropped from tomorrow – except for parts of the south of Scotland where a cluster of new coronavirus cases has been identified.
People were asked to be sensitive to Scotland’s rural and island communities and to exercise caution when travelling as the danger of transmitting the virus remains a threat.
Already compulsory to wear face coverings on public transport this will be extended to shops from July 9.
The First Minister also announced that the two-metre social distancing rule remains in place for now – and will remain the default position.
However, she added, exceptions could be made from the end of next week for certain sectors, subject to the adoption of additional safety measures, to be agreed.
With measures likely to include a need for clear signage to ensure members of the public are aware they are entering an area observing different distancing measures, this would allow operators in retail, hospitality, and public transport sectors to reduce social distancing to one metre.
For the second day in a row just one person with a confirmed case of Covid-19 has died in the last 24 hours.
Ms Sturgeon said: "On the issue of physical distancing and whether we can, in some circumstances, relax advice on the two-metre rule we are publishing the advice the government has received on physical distancing from a scientific advisory group.
"This advice makes clear that the science of physical distancing has not changed.
“To quote the advice directly there is 'increased risk somewhere between two and ten-fold in reducing from two metres to one metre.'
"However, the advice also notes that, as the number of infected individuals falls, there is less chance of any of us coming into contact with someone who has the virus and so absolute risk is lower. It also notes that risk can be mitigated through other measures.
“Taking all of this into account the Scottish Government has reached the following conclusions.
"Firstly our general advice will remain unchanged: we will continue to advise that, as far as possible, you should remain two metres away from people in other households.
“Second, two metres will remain the benchmark for the test and protect system – that means by staying at least two metres away from other people you don't just reduce your chance of getting Covid-19 and of transmitting it, you also reduce your chance of being traced as someone's contact and being asked to self-isolate.
“However, we must recognise that there are different harms here that we must try to balance as best we can.
"While sticking to two metres has clear benefits there are also serious economic implications and an adverse economic impact, we know, can in turn have an effect on people's health and wellbeing.
“For these reasons, when we enter phase three of the route map – which I hope will be the end of next week – we will allow exemptions for specific sectors where agreed mitigations must be put in place.
“The exemptions will allow premises in relevant sectors, if they so choose, to operate within a one-metre distance on the condition that agreed mitigations are implemented.
“To be clear, these will be exceptions. The general rule in law will continue to be that businesses and services must take all reasonable measures to ensure that two metres distancing is maintained.
“Ahead of phase three, we will work with key sectors – initially that will be hospitality, retail and public transport – to agree the mitigation that will be required and to finalise detailed guidance and, in doing that, we will also work very closely with trade unions.
“The guidance will be different for different sectors – clearly the mitigations for a restaurant or a bar will be different to those for a hairdresser.
“For illustrative purposes, and to allow businesses to start to plan, we are publishing today the kinds of mitigations that might be required in each sector, however in general terms, these might include improved ventilation, perspex screens, regulation of customer flow, and seating plans that reduce transmission risk.
“For hospitality, and possibly other sectors, mitigation will also include the collection of names and addresses of customers to help with contact tracing when that is necessary.
“We will also insist on clear customer information to help inform the judgements that we all make as individuals about the risks we are prepared to take.
“In the meantime, and let me stress this point, the current rules apply and that means for example that beer gardens opening on Monday must initially comply with the two metre rule.”
On face coverings she said: "We have proceeded for a period with a voluntary approach to this.
"Some people are complying and some are not. I'm not pointing fingers or trying to blame people for that but we have to make a judgment if we're heading into a period where more people are interacting.
"And we've been having a discussion with more sectors like retail about reducing distancing, and that increases the importance of mitigations like face coverings."
Exceptions already in place to the requirement to wear face coverings on public transport will also apply to shops, including for the under-fives and for those with specific medical conditions.
