Further restrictions will be lifted from midnight on Friday into Saturday.
Glasgow has spent a long time under strict measures, including extra weeks compared to other Scottish cities, but the First Minister finally confirmed that the city will move down to Level 2 restrictions from this Saturday (June 5). Nicola Sturgeon revealed this news to Holyrood this afternoon, as she said the situation in Glasgow appears to be stabilising.
The move to Level 2 in Glasgow means pubs, cafes and restaurants can open indoors until 10.30pm with alcohol permitted. It also means that cinemas, play areas, theatres, concert halls, hotels, hostels, BnBs, sports stadiums (with capacity limits) can re-open once more.
The First Minister said: “The decisions we have arrived at today are difficult and complex ones, and this reflects the fact that we are currently at a delicate and fragile point in what we very much hope is a transition to a different way of dealing with this virus.
“In summary, we do believe that vaccinations are opening the path to a less restrictive way of dealing with Covid – one that is less driven by case numbers. But because not all adults have been fully vaccinated with two doses to date, we are not quite there yet. And as we make this transition – just to compound the challenge further – we are also dealing with a new, faster spreading variant.”
From June 5, up to 100 people will also be able to attend an indoor event, 200 outdoors with standing and 500 with outdoor seating, plus outdoor adult contact sport can resume. In addition, it will be possible from this date for up to six people from up to three households to meet indoors in each others homes, and people can travel again between Glasgow and other parts of Scotland.
The First Minister told Holyrood: “Indeed, case numbers have fallen slightly in recent days – from 146 cases per hundred thousand people, to 129, and this provides further evidence that the major public health interventions we have seen in the past few weeks are having an impact.
“In addition, although hospital admissions are rising, the vaccination effect means they are not, at least at this stage, increasing as fast as they might have done from a similar level of cases earlier in the year.”
However, she added that although stable and starting to decline in the city, cases remain high, and the First Minister urged people to continue to be cautious. She said: “In particular – and this actually applies to all of Scotland, particularly while we enjoy some better weather – although limited indoor meetings are now possible, it is still better to stay outdoors where possible. And in Level 2, groups of up to 8 people from 8 households can gather outdoors.”
Nicola Sturgeon also announced that Scotland’s R number is “almost certainly” above one, which means the epidemic is growing here.
Glasgow will be joining a number of areas in Scotland, which are remaining in Level 2, as opposed to moving down to Level 1 this weekend. These areas include: Edinburgh, Midlothian, Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Clackmannanshire and Stirling.
The areas moving to Level 1 are Highland, Argyll and Bute, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus, Perth and Kinross, Falkirk, Fife, Inverclyde, East and West Lothian, West Dunbartonshire, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Borders.
For more information on restrictions, visit the Scottish government website here.