Easter Monday brings some more easing of lockdown measures in Scotland, with a number of shops allowed to reopen.
Scots will be able to finally get a haircut and visit a garden centre to buy essentials for tending their lawns.
A number of businesses will welcome back customers for the first time since December last year.
The latest reopening forms part of a wider economic recovery that will continue at the end of April, when hospitality businesses will be allowed to serve patrons.
Currently, only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies are allowed to open, but this will change on Monday.
The full list of shops allowed to reopen is:
- Garden centres (indoor and outdoor) like Dobbies
- Key cutting shops like Timpsons
- Mobile repair shops
- Baby equipment shops
- Electrical repair shops like laptop fixing
- Hairdressers and barber shops by appointment only
- Homeware shops
- Vehicle showrooms (appointment only) and forecourts like Arnold Clark
Stay local
You will only be able to visit stores that are in your local authority area and must adhere to the Scottish Government “stay local” guidance.
There are hopes that Scots will be able to travel freely across the country from April 26, as long as Covid cases stay low and the vaccination campaign continues to be successful.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged Scots to be cautious from Monday, and warned that she did not want to see big queues at these premises next week.
She said: “Obviously, we don’t want big crowds at any of these stores – so although they can open on the 5th, think about whether you really need to visit them on Monday itself. If you can, wait later in the week.
“These changes will I hope be widely welcomed, but they are – quite deliberately – fairly cautious steps out of lockdown.
“If you look across to Europe at the moment, many countries there are seeing a big rise in cases. We don’t want the same thing to happen here if we can avoid it.”
Today’s figures
Four more Covid-related deaths were registered in Scotland today.
414 new cases were recorded, with the test positivity rate sitting at 2%.
Scotland has now vaccinated more than 2.5 m people, with 414,540 second doses also given out.