Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nicola Sturgeon Covid briefing: North and north-east to find out if move to Level 1 will happen on June 7

covid briefing Sturgeon
DCT Media

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will give an update on Covid restrictions in Scotland today.

Ms Sturgeon is expected to announce if mainland Scotland will move to Level 1 on June 7 as previously planned.

She will make a statement during a meeting of Parliament at Holyrood on Tuesday June 1 at around 2pm.

Moving to Level 1

The government’s roadmap for easing restrictions showed that the country was aiming to move into Level 1 in early June.

Under eased restrictions, up to six people from three households will be able to meet in homes and stay overnight without social distancing.

In a public place, this rises to eight people from three households, while 12 people from 12 households can meet outdoors.

It also means up to 100 people can attend weddings and funerals and more businesses can reopen their doors, including soft plays and fun fairs.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has said that not all of Scotland will be able to move into Level 1 next week.

Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland on Monday, he said: “I think people would understand where there are still rising case numbers, where there is rising test positivity and if people are getting severely ill and hospitalised with the new variant then it may be that parts of the country would move to Level 1, but in other parts of the country we decide to keep in Level 2.

“It is early for me to say so but that is certainly the situation we are looking at.”

However, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross believes the vaccine scheme means there can be more positivity around easing restrictions.

He said: “Everyone understands that there will be a need for local, targeted measures when an outbreak occurs.

“But leaving behind whole areas should be ruled out. Sweeping measures that unnecessarily hurt a whole city or council area are unfair on businesses and local people waiting to get on with their lives.”

The Western Isles, Shetland, Orkney and other Scottish islands moved to Level 1 on May 17 due to the vaccination uptake and low case numbers.

Variant concerns

Glasgow will find out later this week if it will move down to Level 2 on Saturday and therefore will not be able to move to Level 1 “for a couple of weeks”.

There are also concerns about rising cases in Clackmannanshire and East Renfrewshire, but these numbers must be looked at alongside other measures.

During the briefing on Friday, Ms Sturgeon said the April 0.2 variant was a “key factor” behind the increase in positive cases.

She added: “The new April 0.2 variant, which we think is more transmissible than most other types of the virus, probably now accounts for 50% or even more of our daily cases.”

The briefing will be streamed live on Scottish Parliament TV, the Scottish Government Twitter page and on BBC Scotland.