The timetable of the latest lockdown easing measures announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced significant changes to the lockdown that will see beer gardens open from Monday and certain holiday lets permitted their first bookings from today.

But other changes are also in place such as the mandatory wearing of face coverings in shops as well as possible upcoming changes to the two metres social distancing rule.

The Courier looks at what has and has not changed and what is now considered accepted practice.

That means from:

• July 3 – Self-contained holiday accommodation, like holiday cottages, lodges or caravans with no shared facilities can reopen.
• July 3 – Guidance advising people to travel no more than five miles for leisure purposes will be scrapped, so people can travel across Scotland. The First Minister issued a call to: “Be sensitive to those living in our rural communities.”
• July 3 – Two metre social distancing rule remains in place
• July 3 – For children who are 11 years old or under there will be no requirement to be physically distant with other people when you are outdoors
• July 3 – For children under 11 all other rules will remain the same so they should only meet in groups of eight or less and no more than two other households at a time
• July 3 – Physical distancing for children under 11 is still advised indoors as should any adults present
• July 3 – Young people aged 12 to 17 must continue physical distancing, only meet outdoors with a maximum of eight people from no more than three households at any one time
• July 3 – The limit on the number of those meetings for 12 to 17 year olds in any one day will be lifted so different groups of friends can meet at different times of day

• July 6 – outdoor hospitality, such as pavement cafes and beer gardens, can re-open

• July 10 – the start of phase three
• July 10 – wearing face coverings will also be mandatory in shops with exemptions made for children under five and people with medical conditions, everyone else must use face coverings
• July 10 – Hope to offer more clarity about when places of worship may be able to re-open for communal prayer
• July 10 – Certain exemptions from the two metre rule will start to be allowed to reduce social distancing down to one metre if special protective measures can be put in place. They will be fully in place before July 15. Sectors affected are – retail, public transport and hospitality including pubs and restaurants
• July 10 – Elsewhere the general two metre rule will remains in legal force and businesses and services must take all reasonable measures to ensure that it is maintained
• July 10 – Hospitality businesses may have to start collecting names and addresses of customers to facilitate contact tracing when necessary
• July 10 – Those permitted to adopt the one metre rule must have appropriate signage to warn members of the public that it is in place

• July 13 – It is hoped that organised outdoor contact sports for children can resume

• July 15 – full guidance available for those sectors permitted to reduce the two metre rule to one metre with In general terms, these might include improved ventilation, perspex screens, regulation of customer flow and seating plans that reduce transmission risk

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