Scotland will take a further big step out of lockdown tomorrow as further restrictions ease.
The First Minister said that progress against the virus allows for the “widely welcomed” changes.
They include the long-awaited return of hairdressers and barbers. This is only for pre-booked appointments and for those with shopfronts – not mobile services.
Click and collect shopping can also return for non-essential retail, as well as the re-opening of homeware and garden centres such as Ikea, Dobbies and B&Q.
Car showrooms and forecourts can also re-open.
Tomorrow will also see a return of around 30% of college students identified as being within the top three priority groups by College Scotland as most likely not to complete this academic year.
And outdoor contact sport can also resume for 12 to 17-year-olds.
Speaking last week, the First Minister said there is “no doubt that we have made progress”, both in supressing the virus and in vaccination – that has allowed the changes coming into force tomorrow.
A further cautious easing of lockdown has been confirmed in the latest review of measures.
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) March 30, 2021
'Stay Local' will replace the 'Stay at Home' rule from Friday 2 April, and more retail services will be able to open from Monday 5 April.
Read full details ➡ https://t.co/apvBgDYEd2 pic.twitter.com/GX2QqYNYLn
However, she said: “Obviously, we don’t want big crowds at any of these stores – so although they open on the 5th, think about whether you really need to visit them on Monday itself. If you can, wait until later in the week.
“Going later in the week – or later in the month – might mean things are a bit quieter.
“And of course, follow the advice and the instructions given by store staff. Those staff will be helping to keep you and the other customers safe.”
It comes following the lifting of the ‘Stay at Home’ order on Friday.
The change to ‘Stay Local’ meant that people can travel within their local authority area for non-essential purposes. It is hoped that by April 26, travel to other mainland Scotland areas will be allowed.
Ms Sturgeon added: “These changes will I hope be widely welcomed.
“But they are – quite deliberately – fairly cautious steps out of lockdown.
“If you look across to Europe at the moment, many countries there are seeing a big rise in cases.
“We don’t want the same thing to happen here if we can avoid it.”
What next?
The First Minister said she will give further updates in April but that Scotland is on course to ease restrictions further, with cafes, restaurants, shops and gyms due to open from April 26 and more people allowed to meet up outdoors.
Non-essential shops, libraries, museums and galleries will also reopen from April 26, and six people from up to three households will be able to meet outdoors.
Beer gardens will also be able to open from that date, the First Minister has said.
Pubs will have to wait until May 17 to reopen indoors.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here