The First Minister has announced further easing of covid restrictions in Scotland from next week.
Addressing MSP's in the debating chambers today at Holyrood on January 18, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that rules for hospitality venues will be lifted.
This comes after large gatherings outdoors were permitted from yesterday, but restrictions on indoor crowds and table service remained.
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Now with a hopeful tone, Sturgeon confirmed that a range of restrictions will be lifted from Monday January 24 after figures show that covid cases are falling amongst all age groups.
But the First Minister has issued the new guidance with caution.
Keep up to date with the latest Covid news with our live blog here.
She said: "Of course, we do need to recognise that there are still some uncertainties ahead, and so throwing all caution to the wind would be a mistake.
"For example, the full impact of the return to work and school after the festive break won’t be apparent yet in the data. So it is possible that we will see case numbers tick up again in the next couple of weeks."
All the Covid rules changing
As we now head on a "downward slope of this wave", here is everything that is changing from Monday January 24, 2022.
- Nightclubs can open.
- The limit of 200 people at indoor public events will be lifted.
- The one metre physical distance rule will be lifted.
- The requirement for table service will also be scrapped and bar service will resume.
- Indoor professional contact sports can continue .
- The guidance of just three households will be removed.
Although the advice of three households indoors will be lifted, Sturgeon reminded Scots to keep gatherings small.
She said: "Even though from Monday we will no longer recommend a fixed upper limit on numbers of households, if we all continue to keep gatherings as small as our circumstances allow for now - until the end of this month - we will reduce our risks of infection. And, of course, we should continue to take lateral flow tests before meeting up with people from other households."
It was also confirmed that the covid certificate scheme will not be extended any further at the time being due to the cases falling.
However, nightclubs and late night venues will need to apply the scheme and pubs and restaurants must continue taking track and trace details.
Keep up to date with the latest Covid news with our live blog here.
