NICOLA Sturgeon will update the Scottish Parliament on Scotland’s coronavirus situation this afternoon.
Last week the First Minister briefed MSPs on the initial steps Scotland can expect to take out of lockdown, giving April 26 as an indicative date where the current restrictions will come to an end.
From that date the Scottish Government hopes non-essential shops, hairdressers and gyms will be able to open again and the levels system used last year can return.
Last week primary school pupils from P1-P3 made their return to school – it’s possible the First Minister will discuss plans to get more children back in the classroom during today’s statement.
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Sturgeon may also set out plans to lift lockdown beyond the end of April, however it is clear the First Minister is acting cautiously on easing restrictions.
In England, Boris Johnson has said he hopes all restrictions could be lifted by June 21 and even thinks nightclubs could return.
He has also offered up the UK to the UEFA as a location to host all Euros 2020 matches. Trials on getting fans back into stadia will start in April south of the Border, and it was suggested in a Sun report that Wembley could be at 90,000 capacity by the end of June.
However other ministers have been keen to play these suggestions down.
It’s hoped everyone in the UK will have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine by July – as of Sunday, 1,593,695 people in Scotland had their first jag.
Monday’s figure was not reported due to an IT issue, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman explained at yesterday’s coronavirus briefing.
When Scotland returns to the levels system at the end of April, tighter measures will be used to calculate each tier an area is placed in.
The Scottish Government’s updated framework indicates that local authorities with a case rate of more than 150 per 100,000 people are likely to go into level 4 – with only essential shops open and hospitality closed. Last year the level 4 threshold was 300 cases per 100,000.
For areas aiming for level 2, cases would need to get below 50 per 100,000 – significantly lower than the previous 150 per 100,000 rate.
READ MORE: Scotland's coronavirus levels to be decided using stricter rules
In level 2 areas people can travel outside of their local authority boundary and pubs are permitted to serve alcohol.
The rate is calculated by adding up an area’s cases over the previous seven days, then dividing by the population of that area – the figure is then multiplied by 100,000.
The First Minister will make her statement at about 2.15pm in the Scottish Parliament, while The National will report on all the key details from the announcement.
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