Covid in Scotland: Relaxation of rules on outdoor meeting

Rules on meeting people outdoors in Scotland have been relaxed.

Up to four adults from two different households are now able to meet in any outdoor space, including in private gardens - an increase from two adults from two households.

Restrictions on young people have also been eased, with four people aged between 12 and 17 able to meet even if they are all from different households.

Outdoor non-contact group sports for people aged over 12 can resume.

It has also been confirmed that children under the age of the 12 will now be able to start outdoor contact sports such as football and rugby.

Under-18s can also travel across local authority boundaries to attend a club.

Friday marked the first anniversary of the first confirmed Covid death in Scotland. A UK-wide minute's silence will be held on 23 March, the anniversary of the first lockdown.

Prominent buildings and landmarks throughout the UK will be illuminated to mark the anniversary, with the Kelpies, Wallace Monument and Ness Bridge among those in Scotland.

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The government's previous plan for easing lockdown said that allowing four people from two households to meet outdoors was unlikely to happen before 15 March.

But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the "modest" easing that came into force on Friday was the result of the progress the country was making in suppressing the virus.

People should only go into someone's else's home if it is essential to reach a back garden, or to use the toilet.

And the overall requirement to stay at home remains in place, except for specific purposes.

The latest statistics showed that a further 682 people have tested positive for the virus, taking the total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 208,429.

The deaths of a further 17 people who had previously tested positive for the virus have been recorded, bringing the total by that measure to 7,500.

But National Records of Scotland figures released earlier this week showed that the total number of deaths from confirmed or suspected cases of the virus is now well over 9,000.

There are 512 patients in hospital with a confirmed case of the virus, a decrease of 13 on the previous day, while the number of Covid patients in intensive care units has fallen by two to 38.

The number of people who have received their first vaccine dose has increased by 18,836 since Thursday, and now stands at 1,844,636 - with 149,409 having received their second dose.

The Scottish Conservatives' leader Douglas Ross said the new easing measures showed that "the government got it wrong originally" and that the "overly-cautious approach" was not matched by the data.

Mr Ross said all pupils should be returning full-time from Monday rather the current plan, which will see some secondary pupils have less than two hours a week in the classroom.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the current lockdown had to be the last one.

He added: "We have got to get the vaccination programme right and strengthen our testing and tracing systems.

"The virus is still not going away and we are only using around a third of our testing capacity every day."

'Positive trend'

Earlier this week Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that new cases of the virus, the number of people being admitted to hospital and deaths were all "still higher than we would want".

However, she said there was a clear "positive trend" in figures, alongside "excellent progress with the vaccination programme".

Although the number of vaccines being administered each day has has fallen in recent weeks, the first minister said supplies would soon increase to "allow for a very significant acceleration" of the programme.

The Scottish government has been considering accelerating its exit plan out of lockdown, which currently says that the country will return to a levels system towards the end of April.

It emerged earlier this month that new rules are set to make it harder for areas to drop down to lower tiers of these restrictions.

It is also expected that non-essential retail, hospitality and services such as gyms and hairdressers will reopen as part of the levels system.

But business leaders have said a return to this framework would be "devastating" and have called for more clarity on how the system would work.

• RULES: What are the restrictions in your area?

• LOCKDOWN: Six months that changed our lives

• CASES: Where are the latest cases in Scotland?

• VACCINE: When will Scots be vaccinated against Covid?

• WHO? The people who have died with Covid-19