Shops plan ...but not for 3 weeks

NICOLA Sturgeon is preparing for a ‘more substantial easing’ of lockdown next month which could see some shops reopening.

The First Minister will tomorrow announce details of the first phase of lifting lockdown measures, including meeting members of another household outdoors.

But she said she expects ‘a more substantial easing of restrictions at the next review date in three weeks’.

The phase two moves, potentially from June 18, could allow some retail, including car showrooms, to resume trading.

But the wider reopening of shops on

Scotland’s high streets is not scheduled to happen until the third phase of the route map out of lockdown, from July 9 at the earliest.

At yesterday’s media briefing, Miss Sturgeon confirmed that there had been 18 more virusrelated deaths, while 15,185 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 29 from the day before.

There are 1,200 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 69, and 36 in intensive care, a fall of four.

Miss Sturgeon said her ‘Test and Protect’ strategy, being introduced from tomorrow, will help prepare for wider restrictions being lifted next month.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week that shops will able to open from June 15 in England.

Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We want to get shops open as quickly as possible, but it has to be safe.’

In a move welcomed by business leaders, Holyrood ministers yesterday began publishing guidance for different sectors of the economy, setting out how they will be able to operate again more safely.