MSPs to debate new five-tier lockdown plan
MSPs are due to debate the strategic framework for tackling Covid-19, which was published on Friday.
The new framework would add to the three-tier set-up currently in place in England.
It will be debated in Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon.
If the draft framework is approved by MSPs, ministers will then decide later in the week on which lockdown levels will apply to different parts of Scotland.
The grades will range from 0 to 4 with 0 being the lowest lockdown level.
Grades will be given to local authority areas, rather than the current NHS health board restrictions currently in use.
In her daily briefing on Monday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there was unlikely to be an immediate change for many council areas when the system takes effect next week.
Pubs and restaurants are closed across the central belt as a result of measures introduced earlier this month, while a 6pm indoor curfew applies on hospitality elsewhere.
In Level 0 areas, eight people from three households will be able to meet inside homes, and 15 people from five households can gather outdoors.
Schools and most businesses will remain open, although pubs and restaurants may have a curfew.
Life events such as weddings and funerals will be allowed with a maximum of 50 people in attendance.
Ms Sturgeon said Level 0 will represent the closest to normal the country can get without effective treatment or a vaccine.
In Level 1, meetings in homes and outdoors will be limited to six people from two households.
Small indoor seated events will be allowed although outdoor standing events will be banned.
Life events will be reduced to a maximum of 20 people.
Only those who cannot work from home should go to their place of employment but schools will remain open with enhanced protective measures in place.
In Level 2, different households will not be able to meet in homes.
Stadium gatherings and events will be banned, other than those which are drive-in.
Venues such as soft play centres, funfairs and theatres will be shut. Cinemas and amusement arcades will remain open.
Pubs will be allowed to open indoors as long as they serve a main meal.
Schools will remain open with enhanced protections in place.
With a Level 3 lockdown, hospitality venues will not be allowed to serve alcohol indoors or outdoors, although food can be consumed on premises with potential time restrictions.
Entertainment premises will be closed. People should avoid public transport and there should be no travel outside of the area, unless essential.
Additional protective measures may be in place for services such as hairdressers.
In Level 4, restrictions will be much closer to full lockdown seen at the end of March.
All non-essential businesses will be closed, including accommodation which is not work-related.
Public transport must not be used unless essential.
Places of worship will remain open but the limit will be reduced from 50 people to 20.
Weddings and civil partnerships will be limited to five people - six when there is an interpreter.
Construction and manufacturing will continue.
Schools will remain open with enhanced and targeted protective measures, including shielding children being told not to attend school premises.
Education union, Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), raised concerns in an open letter to parliament, raising concerns over plans to keep schools fully open at all levels.
They said: "The default position at Level 4 that schools are fully open when clearly we need to be looking at blended or remote learning as contingencies, seems to the EIS to be predicated on political messaging rather than controlling the spread of infection.
"The EIS believes that the deployment of blended or remote learning contingencies should be cited, as a minimum, as required interventions at Level 4 of the Framework.''
While several hospitality representatives have come together to ask that the Scottish government assure support for their industry.
In a joint statement, UKHospitality Scotland, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, Scottish Beer and Pub Association and Scottish Hospitality Group, said that higher levels of restrictions will require higher levels of support for businesses, asking that they be at least in line with levels in England.
They added that the economic support grants would not be sufficient.
The debate is expected to take place at 3pm in Holyrood.
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