Distancing guidance ‘has not changed’ for hospitality
PUBS, cafes and restaurants are set to reopen in Scotland for the first time in four months as coronavirus rates continue to fall.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the move to Level Three restrictions from Monday as she defended one-metre physical distancing requirements for hospitality, insisting that the guidance “has not changed”.
Businesses will be allowed to serve food – but not alcohol – indoors to groups of up to six people from a maximum of two households.
Customers from different households sharing the same table will have to sit one-metre apart – something which some hospitality businesses said would be impossible to accommodate.
Ms Sturgeon said: “There is no change to physical distancing
requirements in our revised guidance for the reopening next week, compared to the guidance that was in place the last time pubs and restaurants and cafes were allowed to open.
“Anybody who says otherwise, is misleading people.
“It remains really important that we do have physical distancing between people from different households, because what is also not in the interests of hospitality is that we have outbreaks again in pubs and restaurants that leads to individual premises having to close or outbreaks that seed community transmission and then we have to have local lockdowns again, which mean pubs, cafes and restaurants have to close their doors again.
“Anybody in hospitality who’s saying we’re changing the rules or that these rules are not important, they’re not doing any favours to the wider hospitality trade.”
Hospitality premises will be required to display their maximum customer capacity for the first time, however, and will have to collect contact details for all guests.
Previously this was only required for a nominated “lead customer” in each group.
Gyms, nail bars, galleries, museums, and swimming pools will also be allowed to reopen on Monday, and outdoor hospitality – such as beer gardens or pavement cafes – will be able to serve alcohol and accommodate larger groups of up to six people from six households.
Travel restrictions will also be lifted allowing non-essential travel anywhere in Scotland, England and Wales.
Anyone planning a trip to Scotland’s island communities is asked to self-test for Covid using a lateral flow device (LFD) twice before travel – three days and then one day prior to departure.
The kits can be ordered free online for home delivery or collected from local Covid testing centres.
Anyone who tests positive should seek a PCR test and cancel their trip if it comes back positive to limit the spread of the virus to the islands, where case rates are much lower.
Ms Sturgeon said: “This is potentially an important way in which we can minimise the risk of transmission to island communities,
while giving our island communities the benefit of opening up to visitors.”
She said Scotland remains on track to move into Level Two restrictions from May 17, which would allow small groups to meet in one another’s homes again – something banned in Glasgow since September 1 – and should progress to Level One on June 7 if cases continue to fall.
There have been 1,550 new infections in the past seven days, down from 1,889 the previous week, and more than 60 per cent of the adult population in Scotland has now had a first vaccine dose.
The number of confirmed Covid cases in Scotland caused by the new Indian variant remains unchanged, at four. The “double mutant”
variant, known as B.1.617, has been linked to 103 cases in the UK so far, and is spreading widely in India.
The country will be added to the UK “red list” for travel from Friday, meaning that non-uk or Irish passport holders and residents will be banned from entry.
Britons, Irish citizens and UK residents returning from India will be required to complete a 10-day hotel quarantine at their own cost.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last night that the decision had been taken “on a purely precautionary basis”.
The strain remains a “variant under investigation” – not a “variant of concern” – although work is ongoing to determine whether it is more transmissible and able to evade vaccines, which some
scientists believe is indicated by its mutations.
The Prime Minister also launched a new taskforce to identify antiviral treatments for coronavirus to mitigate against a possible third wave of infections.
He said antivirals could be a third method of defence, along with vaccinations – including booster shots – and mass testing.
The antiviral taskforce will seek out new medicines to “stop the virus in its tracks”, hopefully producing simple treatments that can be taken at home.
It is hoped that antivirals could help to reduce infections and limit the impact of any new variants.
They may also help to protect people who cannot take vaccines or those who have a weaker response.