All legal Covid restrictions in Scotland will end on 21 March

Nicola Sturgeon has announced today that all Scotland’s legal Covid restrictions, such as wearing face coverings and contact tracing, will end on March 21st.

The vaccine passport scheme which is currently needed to get into nightclubs will also end on February 28th.

However, people are still being strongly advised to wear masks in shops and on public transport even after the restrictions are lifted.

Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would now be relying on “sensible behaviours, adaptions and mitigations”.

In terms of Covid testing, Nicola Sturgeon has said anyone with Covid symptoms should still get a PCR test, and that everyone should still regularly use lateral flows.

Lateral flows will continue to be free in Scotland, a contrast to the announcement made by Boris Johnson earlier this week about the changing rules in England.

Sturgeon also announced plans for a three-level system for future virus outbreaks which will be categorised low, medium and high risk.

In a high-risk scenario where there is a severe new variant, people in Scotland could be advised to limit social contacts and work from home, with “some temporary protections” introduced by the government.

In a medium-risk scenario where there is a new variant which is highly transmissible but less severe, Nicola Sturgeon said face masks could be reintroduced.

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