Scotland's lockdown eased
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The sun looks set to shine as the first easing of the lockdown in Scotland looks set to coincide with some good weather across the country.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged the country to put “love, kindness and solidarity” first and obey the strict social distancing and hygiene rules as she confessed to still being “nervous” amid fears of a second spike in infections.
The Scottish Government took the decision to move into phase one with a maximum of two households now free to meet-up outdoors per day under strict social distancing guidance.
There was also good news for the economy as the construction sector can also start preparation work, garden centres can reopen from Monday and drive through fast food outlets are also no longer discouraged from reopening.
But she added a warning against travelling to tourist hotspots saying that people must use their judgement and if a place was crowded then they should really go elsewhere.
Ms Sturgeon also underlined that those who are shielding who are not impacted by the relaxation have not been forgotten and would get guidance for their particular needs in the coming weeks.
Some measures start next week but from tomorrow people can now:
- Focus of the phase one changes is on outdoor activity because the risk of the virus spreading is lower outdoors than indoors
- Most outdoor work can resume and the construction industry will be able to restart site preparation, garden centres and plant nurseries can reopen some of their services, so too can drive-through food outlets
- From Monday, teachers and other staff will be able to enter schools to prepare for the return of classes on August 11
- From Wednesday, childcare will be available to a larger number of children who most need it like vulnerable children and children of essential workers and childminding services and fully outdoor nursery provision will start to reopen with limits on the number of children
- Non-contact outdoor sports – golf, tennis, bowls and fishing – can restart from tomorrow if people keep a strict two metre distance from each other at all times and follow strict hygiene practices
- From tomorrow People can can sit or sunbathe in parks and open areas, and travel preferably by walking or cycling to nearby locations for recreation is now permitted
- Stay away from Island communities unless your business is essential and if there are large numbers of people at tourist hotspots or in beauty spots, change plans and leave
- From tomorrow, households will be able to meet with another household out of doors, for example in a park or garden
- Groups should be small and should be restricted to a maximum of eight people though less would be better
- One household should only meet one other household per day but the government states that it this is not the only household that can be visited
Ms Sturgeon said: "The focus of our phase one changes is on outdoor activity and the reason for that is that as long as people from different household remained two metres apart, don't touch the same surfaces and wash hands and surfaces regularly the risk of the virus spreading is lower in an outdoor environment than indoors.
"Even so in making changes at this stage we have limited room for manoeuvre, so we need to get the balance right want to be start the economy as quickly as possible, but
"We have also kept very firmly in mind the things that matter most to our quality of life – family, friendship, love."
