Image source, PA Media

The reopening of Scotland's economy - including shops, bars, restaurants, gyms and hairdressers - is expected to start in the last week of April, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

She said there would be a "progressive easing" of restrictions before then, with four people from two households allowed to meet outdoors from 15 March.

All primary and more secondary school pupils could return from that date.

It is hoped to lift the stay at home restriction on 5 April.

Ms Sturgeon said it would be necessary to "rely very heavily" on restrictions to suppress the virus for "a bit longer".

• Read more here
• Here is Scotland's strategic framework update, external

Image source, Reuters

Andrew McRae from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said: “In an ideal world, we’d have had a firmer timetable, but we at least have some indicative, earliest dates being set out.

“But the gaps between these dates – at three weeks – are lengthy.

"We now need the detail about what economic activity can resume under the different levels, so that businesses can begin to plan."

Mr McRae warns another six weeks of a mainland stay-at-home lockdown won’t ease the mounting problems facing businesses across the country.

"Over half of local firms are worried about their business surviving the next few months and over a third fear for their mental health."

He calls on the Scottish government to continually review whether this timetable can be accelerated, travel restrictions can be lifted and restrictions on local economies can be eased.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

It's a route-map but it's only big enough to get to the starting point.

Many businesses have been asking when they will be allowed to reopen. Now they have some rough indication, pencilled in to the calendar, but far from all of them, and with distancing still required.

In contrast with Boris Johnson's approach for England, Nicola Sturgeon statement at Holyrood was not a route-map to a late summer of socialising, concerts, sports and travel.

The plan is far more cautious.

Ms Sturgeon's idea of release, maybe by late April, is to get through the doors of a restaurant or bar.

Both leaders had said they were putting data ahead of dates, but it was the prime minister's dates that the public notice, remember and plan on. Travel bookings soared on Monday and Tuesday.

Scotland's first minister is warning that dates are not much better than "a finger in the wind", and depend on a lot of data variables to reach each point.

Scotland's travel and tourism industry isn't being given much to plan on.

So by the final week of April, the mainland and most islands may be allowed to ease off, but only to level three.

That should mean pubs and restaurants can re-open, but with tight constraints. The details on Levels 2.0 will come next month.

The Scottish government has set out four phases in its strategy to lift coronavirus restrictions. The first minister has talked about "data not dates", however she did give some indication about what we could expect and when:

Drivetime with John Beattie
BBC Radio Scotland

Drivetime will of course have all the reaction to and analysis of Nicola Sturgeon's route map out of lockdown.

The plan will see the country return to level three restrictions by the end of April.

More outdoor mixing will be allowed and we know the plan is to send P4 -7 and some more senior secondary pupils back to school on March the 15th.

However the rest of our school kids wont be back until April the 5th, as things stand.

In contrast to Boris Johnson's announcement yesterday, there weren't many dates in there . . . Nicola Sturgeon promised more detail about future plans in the middle of March.

Join John Beattie for Drivetime from 4pm.

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The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) says the first minister's statement still leaves a "lot of uncertainty" about the future,

The consumer group says it has concerns about the return of restrictions such as alcohol bans and curfews.

On the issue of tapered financial support, a spokesman said: "This must include enough help to make sure pubs are viable for as long as they are facing restrictions or having to operate at reduced capacity."

CAMRA also called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to provide additional financial support in his budget next week.

The Scottish Greens ask if the first minister shares their concern that many people are "already taking the UK government's timeline as a cast-iron promise".

Party co-leader Patrick Harvie also asks about vaccine passports and their potential use in the economy, which could make social inequality even worse, he says.

The first minister points out the prime minister presented the 21st of June date as an aspiration and said there were no guarantees, which is a reasonable position to take.

She says it is not fair or reasonable to go further with dates today than she already has.

Ms Sturgeon says we must think properly about what a vaccine passport or certificate might offer us, but she insists she would never support something that deepened social inequalities.

Image source, Getty Images

The Scottish Liberal Democrats remark on the similarities between the first minister's plans and those announced by Boris Johnson yesterday.

But the party's leader, Willie Rennie, expresses concerns about vaccine passports "slowly gaining traction" and insists they must not be used to access public services.

The first minister replies: "I wouldn't support the access to public services being based on anything like that."

She warns against any preconceived ideas about vaccine passports or certificates and we "shouldn't close our minds to that".

There may well be scope for vaccination giving you scope to do things she points out.

Steven McKenzie
BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Willie Cameron, of Loch Ness Marketing, said the first minister's announcement will have given the Highlands tourism industry some signs of hope.

He said the possibility of the economy opening up from late April could mean Scottish staycations in May and further breaks in the summer.

"Things are going in the right direction, and we live in hope, but there are still lots of questions," said the businessman dubbed Mr Loch Ness.

"You can't just open self-catering and not pubs and restaurants and visitor attractions also at the same time. People will want the full package. They will want to go places, and the industry will want to show the Highlands at its best."

The reopening of Scotland's economy - including shops, bars, restaurants, gyms and hairdressers - is expected to start in the last week of April, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

She said there would be a "progressive easing" of restrictions before then, with four people from two households allowed to meet outdoors from 15 March.

All primary and more secondary school pupils could return from that date.

It is hoped to lift the stay at home restriction on 5 April.

Ms Sturgeon said it would be necessary to "rely very heavily" on restrictions to suppress the virus for "a bit longer".

• Read more here
• Here is Scotland's strategic framework update, external

Scottish Labour's interim leader Jackie Baillie asks if the first minister will issue a revised testing strategy that includes mass community testing.

She also asks Ms Sturgeon if the "ultimate goal" is suppression or elimination of the virus.

The first minister confirms a revised testing strategy will be published to take account of the increased testing capacity and the new objectives as the country emerges from lockdown.

On the issue of suppression versus elimination, she adds: "You've got to try for as close to elimination as possible in order to keep the virus as low as possible.

"So, even if you don't achieve absolutely no Covid, the very act of trying keeps it at levels that are safer for us then to open up."

The first minister says she has tried to be frank with people and adds that "we can all be more hopeful".

Between now and April a gradual opening up of some restrictions can take place, she adds.

However she stresses that has to be balanced with the reality there is still uncertainty.

"This must be a firm and sustainable route out of lockdown."

Ruth Davidson welcomes the statement from the first minister, particularly the details on school returns and care home visits.

The Scottish Conservative Holyrood group leader adds: “However there is much that is not in this statement.”

She says there is nothing for those who have had medical treatments cancelled, nothing for those who have postponed life events and nothing about when measures like social distancing can end.

Ms Davidson says: "This isn’t a route map out of Covid it is a holding document for the next eight weeks."

"Why won’t you let the people of Scotland know the plan to get them fully out of lockdown and back to their lives?"

The first minister says the priority for now remains supressing the virus and that requires sticking to the current lockdown rules.

That of course means staying at home except for essential purposes.

As ever the first minister calls on everyone to follow the FACTS advice and she also reiterates the work from home message.

Image source, Scottish government

The first minister concludes: “The restrictions are working, the vaccination programme is motoring. We can now see a firm way out of this,” continues the first minister.

Ms Sturgeon goes on to say if we all stick together: “We are now able to say with much more confidence that we are looking at much brighter days ahead.

“Stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.”

Lucy Whyte
BBC Scotland education correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Scotland may have been among the first of the four nations to get any pupils in class but it looks like it could be one of the last to have all pupils back to in-person learning.

This plan could see more children, especially primary pupils, allowed back in the classroom by 15 March, a week after England.

But the full return of Scotland's schools might not happen until a month later.

The decision to stick with a phased approach will be welcomed by teaching unions, who will also be glad to see the inclusion of blended learning initially for senior pupils.

The 5 April date for the potential full return to class is at the start of the Easter holidays for most, so really we are talking about the middle of that month before everyone is back.

Will the first minister go faster? She has made clear that she will if she can and there is a precedent when she accelerated the full return to school in August last year.

On that occasion she could demonstrate that numbers were on her side.

Image source, Reutars

Nicola Sturgeon tells the chamber she wants to give as much clarity as she can, while avoiding giving false assurance or “picking arbitrary dates that have no grounding at this stage in any objective assessment”.

“I am as confident as I can be that the indicative, staged, timetable that I have set out today - from now until late April when the economy will start to substantially re-open - is a reasonable one.”

In mid-March she hopes to set out more detail of the further re-opening that will take place over April and May and into a summer when we “really hope to be living with much greater freedoms than we are today”