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Scottish Government briefing 11th May

Posted: 11th May 2021

Covid restrictions – 17th May

On the 17th May it has been confirmed that nearly all parts of Scotland will move down to level 2 of restrictions (except for the Moray area, which is likely to remain in level 3 and have additional travel restrictions imposed), and changes will go further than previously anticipated.

From Monday the 17th May:

  • People will be able to meet outdoors in groups of 8 from up to 8 households
  • We can meet indoors in private homes including for overnight stays. Up to 6 people from 3 households will be able to meet indoors – more than previously expected
  • It will no longer be necessary to maintain social distancing when meeting in private gardens or homes. However, over the next 3 weeks, social distancing must be maintained in public places (including hospitality and retail premises), but this will be reviewed by the next announcement in 3 weeks’ time.

Other changes include:

  • From Monday, alcohol can be served indoors in hospitality settings up to 10.30pm, with groups of up to 6 from 3 households allowed. Hospitality venues are encouraged to use the newly released ‘Check In Scotland’ app
  • A number of venues including cinemas, theatres, concert halls, bingo halls etc. will be able to reopen
  • Amateur performing arts groups will be able to perform outdoors and more than one person will be able to sing during religious services
  • Outdoor adult contact sports to resume
  • The standard limit for the number of people that can attend events will increase – up to 100 people can attend indoor events and up to 250 outdoor with unrestricted standing, and up to 500 will be able to attend and outdoor with seating. Events organisers can apply to hold bigger events. Updated guidance may be published at some point in the next 3 weeks

International travel

The Government is still urging people to be highly cautious, but will now begin to move away from blanket restrictions on non-essential travel. We will instead move to a traffic light system, based on the state of the pandemic in each country and the presence of any variants of concern

  • If you enter Scotland from a red-list country (incl. Nepal, Turkey  Maldives) you will have to isolate in a hotel for 10 days
  • If it’s an amber country, you must self-isolate at home for 10 days and take 2 PCR tests in that time
  • For green, you must take a PCR test shortly after arrival but will not be required to self-isolate. For now, these will be the same countries as those on England’s green list

A consistent 4 nations position on international travel has been taken, and it is hoped that this will continue.

You can find the full detail of what is allowed at each level on the Scottish Government website, and read the response from Scottish Chambers of Commerce here.

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