NICOLA Sturgeon has confirmed that Scotland will move to Level 0 Covid restrictions from July 19.

In a virtual briefing to the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister said that this is a time for "continued caution" and for the Government to make "tough decisions" to safeguard the health and wellbeing of people in Scotland.

Sturgeon said: "So while Scotland will move to Level 0 from next Monday (July 19), we will do so with certain modifications to our indicative plans.

"This is intended to ensure that our pace of easing restrictions is sensible in light of the challenge we continue to face from the Delta variant."

The First Minister confirmed that the continued use of face coverings will remain important "not just to give added protection to the population as a whole, but also to give protection and assurance to those amongst us who are particularly vulnerable and previously had to shield".

Sturgeon said that the continued wearing of face coverings will in place "not just now but, in all likelihood, for some time to come".

READ MORE: Scotland Covid Level 0: What are the current restrictions?

She added: "Lifting all restrictions and mitigations right now would put all of us at greater risk - but in particular it would make it much more difficult for the most clinically vulnerable to go about their normal lives. It would risk the imposition of shielding by default and that is not something we should do."

In setting out details of the modified move the Level 0, Sturgeon said that a gradual approach "stands the best chance of being sustainable".

The modifications to the move will be made consistently across the country.

What are the rules in Level 0?

In Level 0, up to eight people from up to four households can meet indoors at home - compared to six people from three households in Levels 1 and 2.

Up to 10 people from up to 4 households can meet in a public indoor space – such as a pub or restaurant.

Up to 15 people from up to 15 households can meet outdoors - whether in a private garden or public place. Children under 12 do not count to the number of people or households.

Up to 200 people can attend weddings and funerals.

There will be no requirement for customers to pre-book a two-hour slot to go to a pub or restaurant.

However, customers will still be required to provide contact details for Test & Protect. And they will still be required to wear face coverings except when seated.

There will still be limits on the size of events and stadia attendances - but these will increase outdoors to 2000 seated and 1000 standing, and indoors to 400. Organisers will be able to apply to stage larger events.

What are the modifications?

Hospitality venues will be required to close at midnight. Previously in Level 0 guidance venues would have to instead follow local licensing rules.

This change, the First Minister said, reflects the fact that indoor hospitality "remains a relatively risky environment, particularly later at night" when people could be less likely to follow the rules.

The midnight closing time is progress from Level 1 and 2 but Sturgeon said the change will mitigate some of the risk.

The second modification to rules is to physical distancing in public spaces.

In indoor public spaces, the physical distance requirement will reduce from two metres to one metre and will apply between different household groups.

A limit on the size of groups meeting outdoors will l be up to 15 people from up to 15 households.

Sturgeon said: "Because meeting outdoors is less risky than indoors, there will be no requirement to distance within these groups of 15. However, for the next 3 weeks at least, there will be a requirement for 1m distancing between different groups of 15."

The final modification relates to working from home and returning to the office.

The Scottish Government had previously indicated that a gradual return to the office could begin from Level 0.

However, given the current situation, that is to be postponed until there is a move beyond Level 0, which the Government hopes will be on August 9.

Sturgeon added: "I know this will be disappointing for many businesses – and also some employees who are finding home-working hard.

But this will reduce the extent to which people are meeting up in enclosed environments or travelling together, and so will help to contain transmission during this phase.

Daily Covid figures update

The total number of new Covid cases was 2529 recorded in the last 24 hours. This represented 11.5% of all tests carried out.

There were four more deaths of people who previously tested positive for Covid-19. This means the total number of deaths recorded in Scotland under this measure - of people who died within 28 days of first testing positive - has risen to 7761.

There were 506 people in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed Covid-19, an increase of 37 on the previous day. Of these patients, 41 were in intensive care, a rise of one.

In terms of Scotland's vaccine effort, some 3,941,571 people have now received the first dose of the Covid vaccination and 2,903,557 have received their second dose.