Sturgeon gives go-ahead for tourism and retail to reopen next week alongside pubs and childcare

Nicola Sturgeon has announced Scotland will move into phase three of the route out of lockdown in what she called “the highest-risk changes we have made so far”.

The measures will start to take effect from tomorrow and will extend into next month, constituting the most significant easing of the lockdown yet and the return of large swathes of the tourism and retail sectors.

From tomorrow (Friday, up to three households will be able to meet indoors for the first time – up to a maximum of eight people. Meanwhile, up to five different households to a maximum of 15 people will from tomorrow be able to meet outdoors.

A household can meet up to four other households per day in total. Two-metre distancing between households should continue, with heightened hygiene measures to avoid creating "bridges" which allow the virus to spread.

Mandatory face coverings will be required in shops. Physical distancing of two metres remains the law. However, on public transport and in retail settings some exceptions will be allowed once appropriate mitigations are in place.

From Monday, organised outdoor play and contact sports can resume for children and young people under 18, subject to guidance, non-essential shops inside shopping centres can reopen, and dental practices can see registered patients but only for "non-aerosol" routine care – so drills and the like cannot be used. Urgent care centres will continue to provide such procedures.

From Wednesday, indoor restaurants, cafés and pubs will be able to open again. Hospitality venues can be granted an exception to the two-metre distancing requirement. However, this requires mitigating measures in place such as clear information for customers and revised seating plans, while all hospitality venues are required to record contact details of customers to support the Test and Protect pogramme.

All holiday accommodation can reopen from Wednesday, as well as the childcare sector, hairdressers and barbers. Museums, galleries, cinemas and libraries can also open from Wednesday, with strict physical distancing.

Places of worship can open again from Wednesday for communal prayer, congregational service and contemplation with limited attendance numbers and physical distancing. Specific guidance is being finalised with faith communities. Restrictions on attendance at services and ceremonies for funerals, weddings and civil partnerships will be eased, although full-scale gatherings are still not permitted and some mitigation measures will remain.

The Fist Minister said the “substantial progress” that had been made underpinned the move into phase three as she warned people to avoid public crowded places “literally like the plague” while acknowledging that many were looking forward to their first “non-amateur haircut” in months.

She said: “I can report that in the past 24 hours no deaths have been registered of patients who had been confirmed as having the virus. The total number of deaths in Scotland under that measurement therefore remains at 2490.

“The statistical trends are clear in Scotland – Covid-19 has now been suppressed to a low level.

“Three weeks ago there were more than 540 people in hospital with confirmed Covid-19. The figure today is 342 and there are now just three patients with confirmed Covid-19 in intensive care.

“The number of people dying has also fallen week-on-week. as shown in our daily statistics and also in the weekly reports from the National Records of Scotland. In addition, our latest modelling suggests that the R-number is still below one – it has been between 0.6 and 0.8 for most of the past month.

“The number of people in Scotland with the virus continues to fall.

“Taking all of these factors into account I can confirm that it is the judgement of the government that we can now move from phase two to phase three of the route map. I can also confirm that we will allow in a limited number of sectors an exception to be made to the requirement for two-metre physical distancing.

“This will be subject to strict conditions tailored to the circumstances of each sector and let me stress the term 'exception' – the general rule remains two metres.

“For public transport and the retail sector, the exception would be permissible from tomorrow. However, it is essential that the required mitigations are in place and appropriate discussions have taken place with trade unions before it becomes operational.

“The retail sector includes personal services such as hairdressing. I also want to remind everyone that face coverings that are already mandatory on public transport will from tomorrow be mandatory in shops as well.

“For the vast majority of us it will be the law that we wear face coverings in shops – wearing a face covering on a bus or a train or in a shop should for the foreseeable future become as automatic as putting on a seatbelt in a car.”

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone said: "I was really pleased to see the First Minister make headway on childcare providers. I know it's something my friend Willie Rennie [Scottish Liberal Democrat leader] has been pushing for now for quite some time. The news will be of great relief to a lot of parents wanting to get back to work.

"The First Minister gave a strong and reassuring performance, as ever, but I was a little disappointed to see no mention of the samples found on the A9. I really do think that this mystery raises some serious questions about the safety measures in place for transporting Covid samples, and I would have liked to see some clarifications made on that point.

"On a final note, I do have quite a few constituents asking me about why hairdressers will be opening, but not beauticians. I would really appreciate it if the First Minister could share the scientific advice underpinning that decision."

• More coronavirus news

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.