Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

In full: All the lockdown rules changing today in Scotland as ‘stay at home’ becomes ‘stay local’

lockdown
People can now move about Aberdeen more freely

April is a huge month for Scotland, as strict lockdown restrictions will be eased, leading to a “glimmer of hope” that things are slowly returning back to normal.

Today, a major change has been made to Scottish Government guidance, with the “stay at home” message being replaced by the less restrictive “stay local.”

This means that people across mainland Scotland can now make non-essential journeys within their local authority area.

You can now leave your home more often, and not just to exercise, shop, or go to doctor’s appointments.

People can leave their house to do more than exercise now

However, restrictions remain in place on travelling across local authority boundaries.

People must stay within their council area unless for essential reasons similar to the current lockdown.

Working from home also remains the standard, so that unnecessary social contact can be avoided.

Changes from Monday

Monday brings more hope, as further restrictions will be eased in the retail sector.

Hairdressers and barbers can reopen on an appointment-only basis, which will be a great relief to some.

Garden centres such as Dobbies can open once again, along with car showrooms and forecourts.

Homeware stores such as B&Q and Homebase can reopen, along with non-essential click and collect services like those operated by Next.

Currys PC World can open for click and collect

Obviously, enhanced safety measures will need to be adhered to, including physical distancing, face coverings, and pre-booking where appropriate.

More college students will be able to return to university campuses and 12-17 year-olds will be able to resume outdoor contact sports like football and rugby.

Why can these changes be made?

lockdown

Well, it is because data is showing that Covid is being suppressed across Scotland, mainly due to the ongoing lockdown and vaccination campaign.

Virtually all over-65s have now received a first dose of the vaccine, and the average daily case rate is now 539 new cases per day, a decline of more than 75% since early January.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged continued caution as she welcomed restrictions being eased across mainland Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon at FMQs.

She said:  “We have made progress both in suppressing the virus and in vaccination, and therefore the changes I previously indicated will go ahead on 2 and 5 April.

“The stay at home rule is being replaced by a requirement to stay local – while Covid levels remain high in some areas, and while a lot of people remain unvaccinated, we do not want the virus to spread from areas with relatively high prevalence to areas with low rates of infection.

“That’s why the current travel restrictions, which prevent non-essential travel outside your local authority area, are really important.

“It will be easier to relax more restrictions in the future if case numbers remain under control, so when things open up slightly this weekend please continue to stick to the rules, and follow the advice and the instructions given by store staff to keep you and the other customers safe.

“Stay at home – for now – protect the NHS, and follow the FACTS advice when you are out and about to help save lives.”