THE easing of lockdown restrictions in Scotland will go ahead as planned from tomorrow, the first minister has said.
Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed "significant progress in tackling Covid-19" has ensured the return of more pupils to schools will begin on Monday, while changes to current rules will allow four people from two households to mix outdoors from Friday.
Speaking exactly one year to the day since the World Health Organisation declared the pandemic, the first minister revealed virtually all over 65s have now had a first dose of the jag and that the vaccination programme would be "stepped up" in the coming weeks.
READ MORE: Covid Scotland: The lockdown measures to ease from tomorrow
She further confirmed steps will be taken next week to reopen Scotland's economy.
Speaking during First Minister's Questions in Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said: "It is exactly a year ago today since the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 to be a pandemic.
"The last 12 months have been incredibly tough. Unimaginably tough for everyone. As I indicated on Tuesday, we do now have grounds for optimism, albeit cautious optimism.
"Case numbers, hospitalisations, and deaths have all fallen in recent weeks. When we publish the latest estimate of the R number today, we expect it to show it remains below one.
"The vaccination programme has now given a first dose to 40% of the entire adult population and it is set to significantly accelerate over the next few weeks."
From tomorrow, up to four adults from two different households will be able to meet outdoors. The current rules only allow outdoor meetings between two adults from two households.
Restrictions on young people will also be eased, with four people aged between 12-17 able to meet even if they are all from different households.
Outdoor non-contact group sports for adults will also restart on Friday.
All primary school pupils will be back full-time from Monday, while high school youngsters will return on at least a part-time basis. The latter will then be given full-time lessons in the classroom after the Easter holidays.
She added: "Because of that continued progress I can confirm we will go ahead as planned with the next stage of reopening of schools as of Monday.
"In addition, changes to outdoor meetings and activities which I set out on Tuesday will come into force.
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"Next Tuesday, I will provide more information about our phased reopening of the economy. These plans will take into account the positive news we see at the moment but will acknowledge the risks we still face.
"For that reason my advice is still to follow the stay at home rule for now."
The latest figures announced by Nicola Sturgeon
The first minister announced there were 591 new cases reported yesterday. That's 2.5% of all tests carried out.
That takes the total number of positive cases in Scotland to 207,747.
A total of 556 people are currently in hospital, which is 26 fewer than yesterday. 42 people are in intensive care, 7 fewer than yesterday.
A further 22 deaths were registered, taking the total number of people under that measurement to 7483.
Vaccine programme
As of 8.30am today 1,825,800 people have received a first dose of the vaccine. That's an increase 63,642.
141,433 have now received their second dose of the vaccine.
Vaccination doses
'Virtually all' of 65-69Yo
45% of 60-64 year olds
38% of 55-59 year olds
31% of 50-54 year olds
How the figures compare to NRS data
A total of 9,725 people have died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, according to the National Records of Scotland (NRS).
The figures show 141 deaths relating to Covid-19 were registered between March 1 and March 7, down 89 on the previous week.
Of these, the majority – 84% – happened in hospital at 119, with 14 in care homes and eight at home or in a non-institutional setting.
The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.
More to follow...
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