THREE LOVE
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SCOTS families will be able to reunite indoors from today and are now allowed to stay over in each other’s houses.
And from next week you can get a haircut, go to a restaurant or pub indoors and go to church, but with no singing.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, with the virus now suppressed to a low level, she was able to move into phase three of lockdown easing - but said there would be a staggered lifting of restrictions to avoid “bearing all of the risk at once”.
She said: “We should all savour our first indoor meetings and meals with friends, our first pint in a pub or our first catchup over coffee. I know many of us are looking forward to our first non-amateur haircut in many months and there will be other milestones and reunions over the next couple of months.
“They have all be hard earned by each and every one of us but I have a duty to be crystal clear with the country that this is a time of real danger. Next week represents the most substantial lockdown easing so far, so we must remember Covid, although at very low levels just now, is still out there.
“We mess with it at our peril.”
She pointed out that Scotland’s infection rate is currently five times lower than the rest of the UK so was, therefore, in a better position to proceed to the next phase.
There were no deaths from coronavirus registered overnight and just six new cases.
She said that of all the World Health Organisation’s recommendations about entering the next phase, the one that gave her most cause for concern was the ability to control the importation of the virus.
And hinting strongly she may still yet introduce quarantine regulations for people coming from England, she said: “Let me be clear, this must cover importation from other parts of the UK as well as from overseas.”
Turning her attention to easing measures, she confirmed two metre distancing in some sectors - including shops, hairdressers and public transport - can be reduced to one metre from today but it will be subject to strict rules.
Also, eight people from up to three households will be allowed to meet indoors and, so long as physical distancing is maintained, this can include overnight stays.
Kids under 12 no longer need to socially distance indoors. But Sturgeon said: “This is one of, if not the, highest risk changes we have made so far.
“We know the risk of transmission indoors is significantly higher than it is outdoors, so it is essential that we all take the utmost care and follow the public health advice.
“That means keeping two metres distant from people in other households, cleaning surfaces after we touch them and washing your hands regularly, especially when first entering someone’s house.”
A maximum of 15 people from five different households are now able to meet up outdoors but must remain two metres apart. But adults combining indoor and outdoor
meetings should not come into contact with more than four households a day.
People who are part of a nonco-habiting couple, regardless of their living arrangements, no longer need to stay physically distant indoors or outdoors.
From Monday, organised outdoor sports and activity for young people can resume, shopping centres can reopen and there will be an extension to optometrist and dental services. Mums-to-be will now be allowed to have someone with them at ante-natal appointments.
The long-awaited reopening of pubs, restaurants and cafes inside will begin, with a one metre rule, on Wednesday. Hotels, holiday accommodation, museums, galleries, cinemas and hairdressers will also open again, as will child care facilities.
And Sturgeon gave a boost to those missing religious services by bringing forward the date of the reopening of places of worship for communal services and prayer.
But there will be limited numbers, a requirement to take contact details and a restriction on singing because of the increased risk of transmission.
Restrictions on attendances at funerals, marriages and civil partnerships will be eased but there will be fewer people allowed than at church services and Sturgeon emphasised that the easing applied only to the services and not wakes or receptions afterwards.
Later this month, beauticians and nail salons will be able to reopen with hygiene measures in place, universities and colleges can return with a “blended learning” model and motorbike lessons and tests will be allowed to resume.
Sturgeon listed other fields where there would no easing expected before the end of the month - including the reopening of non-essential offices and call centres, the resumption of outdoor live events and those at theatres and music venues. Indoor gyms will stay closed and non-professional contact sport can’t resume yet.
And she said she expected phase three would last longer than three weeks. She stated: “Given the scale of changes, we think it would be wise not to rush that too quickly.”