Today (September 22) First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has introduced a raft of new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Scotland.
Here's the latest guidance for the public and businesses:
- A 10pm curfew will be in place for hospitality businesses from this Friday (September 25). Hospitality businesses must close at 10pm each night.
- Visiting other households indoors will no longer be allowed from tomorrow (September 23). Exemptions of this include carers, single parents or people living alone, couples who do not live together and for extended household bubbles.
- The "Rule of Six" introduced on September 14 will remain in place for outdoor gathering or gatherings in public places.
- People are still being encouraged to work from home by default.
- Children aged 12-18 can meet outdoors in groups of six with no limit on households.
- You should not car-share with someone from another household.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said:
“Whilst we respect that public health is of paramount importance, the pandemic has and continues to accelerate the very real challenge to Aberdeen City Centre. The additional restrictions announced by the First Minister today, in addition to the continuation of home working, whilst understood, will have a very real knock-on effect.
“The impact on the retail and hospitality sectors has been, throughout the past six months, and continues to be, particularly tough. Restricting businesses operational hours will hit hospitality hard and retail continues to struggle due to a downturn in footfall, particularly from office staff home working. In addition to this, all the interdependencies that rely on these sectors will also be affected.
“The measures announced today will have wider implications and we are acutely aware of what this could mean for many businesses already on the line. City centres and high streets were already going through difficult times pre COVID-19 and further restrictions exacerbate the damage even more.
“As ever, Aberdeen Inspired is doing what it can to support our local businesses however we can. We would encourage members of the public, now more than ever, to continue to support city centre businesses, respecting and following all safety requirements.”
Lockdown measures: latest updates September 10
In the latest review of lockdown guidance, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced today that Scotland will remain in Phase 3 in the routemap out of lockdown. Due to an increase in cases, some guidelines have also been tightened.
Here's the latest guidance for the public and businesses:
- From Monday September 14, social gatherings will be limited to no more than six people from two households, both indoors and outdoors. This affects hospitality businesses too.
- It will become mandatory for members of the public to wear face coverings in hospitality establishments when they are moving around the venue, i.e. entering the venue, walking to a table or going to the bathroom.
- It will also be mandatory for all staff working in hospitality to wear face coverings, something that had only been advised previously.
The next proposed set of changes to the lockdown rules have been paused. This includes the following:
- Events and venues that had been given the indicative date of September 14 to resume and reopen have been put on hold until the next review on October 5. This affects crowds at sporting events, live music venues, theatres and soft play facilities.
- The reopening of call centres and offices will not take place before October 1, with the default remaining to work at home where possible.
The Protect Scotland contact tracing app was launched today (Thursday September 10) and the public is being asked to download the app to help the Test and Protect contact tracing effort.