Buddies will be able to enjoy a greater taste of freedom as lockdown restrictions are further eased across Renfrewshire next week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed this afternoon that the local authority area will join the rest of mainland Scotland in moving to Level 0 from Monday.
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It means that up to eight people from four households can meet in private homes and that up to ten people from four households can meet indoors in places like pubs and restaurants.
These venues will see their 10pm curfew extended to midnight and the requirement to book a table has been removed.
Soft plays will be able to reopen for the first time in 16 months.
The black and white army will also enjoy greater access to the SMiSA Stadium with up to 2,000 fans now permitted in outdoor arenas.
But the proposed gradual return to workplaces has been postponed, with the First Minister calling on employers to allow their staff to work from home until at least August 9 where possible.
Addressing the Scottish Parliament this afternoon Ms Sturgeon said: “I hope that the move to Level 0 – albeit in a modified form – will be welcomed.
“It is not a complete and wholesale lifting of all restrictions - it was never intended to be.
“However, it does restore yet more freedom to all of us.
“Indeed, it is worth emphasising that we are no longer in lockdown - nothing like it. Life is much more normal than at any time since the start of this pandemic.
“The gradual approach we are taking means that sensible precautions will remain in place to limit transmission while we make even more progress on vaccination.”
Scotland will also drop major restrictions around foreign travel from Monday.
Following the guidance issued in England, Scotland will drop the requirement for people returning from amber list countries to self isolate for 10 days.
Applicable only to people who have had two doses of the vaccine, travellers will still be asked to undergo a PCR covid test on the second day of their arrival.
The amber list will remain be under review, while official guidance continues to urge Scots not to travel abroad unless for essential purposes.
The need to self isolate at all could however be removed entirely when Scotland moves beyond Level 0.
The First Minister said that the blanket requirement for close contacts to self isolate could potentially be lifted from August 9 for all those who have had two doses of the vaccine, with at least two weeks having passed since the second dose.
Education bosses are also, she said, continuing to look at how the requirement to self isolate may be removed for school pupils named as a close contact of someone with the virus.
Ministers too are awaiting a final decision from the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation on whether or not a vaccine will be offered to those aged 12 and over.
Requirements to wear face masks in public spaces and guidance around ventilation and good hand hygiene will remain in place for some time, as will the requirement to engage with Test, Trace and Protect services.
