Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has agreed to lift those Covid restrictions brought in to combat the Omicron variant, admitting the country is on the “downward slope” of infections. MailOnline has more.
From next Monday, January 24th, bars and restaurants will no longer only be able to serve customers seated at tables, while social distancing will also be removed.
Nightclubs will also be allowed to reopen as she sweeps away restrictions in place since before Christmas, while plans to extend the Covid passport scheme have been scrapped.
Attendance limits on indoor events will also be lifted – bringing them into line with outdoor events in a move that came into effect yesterday.
However baseline coronavirus measures in place before the Omicron wave will remain, including masks are still legally required indoors and on public transport.
The First Minister also announced the Scottish Government would not be expanding its vaccine certification scheme into new venues with the Tories demanding it be scrapped entirely.
Addressing the Scottish Parliament today, Ms Sturgeon said statistics showed a “significant fall” in new cases, though the NHS remained under “acute pressure”.
She said: “Taking all of this into account, and triangulating the various sources of data, allows us to say with some confidence that the rise in cases driven by Omicron peaked in the first week of January and that we are now on the downward slope of this wave of cases.”
Worth reading in full.
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