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Nicola Sturgeon has revealed the Scottish alternative to Boris Johnson’s tiered coronavirus restriction system.
While England has three tiers of measures, the Scottish Prime Minister has chosen five.
He said individual regions could rank below different, so “we don’t have to take a one-size-fits-all approach if it’s not justified.”
They will come into effect on November 2, if the Scottish Parliament approves Ms Sturgeon’s plans next week.
Here are the details:
Level 0
This would be “as close to normal as we can safely get to without more effective treatments for COVID or a COVID vaccine,” the prime minister said.
Eight people from three households can meet indoors and most businesses can open with security measures in place.
It is more comparable to the situation in Scotland in August, when the virus was “heavily suppressed but still a threat.”
Level 1
Indoor domestic gatherings are restricted to six people from two households.
This would maintain a “reasonable degree of normality” and would be similar to the situation in mid-September, when “cases started to increase again, but the prevalence was still quite low.”
Level 2
This applies when the transmission of the virus is higher and increasing and would see limitations in the hotel business and meetings are not allowed in people’s homes.
It is similar to the current restrictions outside the Scottish Central Belt.
Level 3
This would cause much of the hospitality to be shut down and would be similar to the current measures in the Scottish central belt.
But Sturgeon said a crucial difference would be that restaurants can partially open.
Level 4
Non-essential stores must close and it’s a sign that the NHS is at risk of being overwhelmed.
Six people from two households can meet outdoors and the government will seek to keep manufacturing and construction companies open.
Sturgeon confirmed that “we do not plan to return to a situation that serves as a first block.
He said that if the MSPs approve the plan, the Scottish government will make decisions about which parts of the country enter what level.
