Haircuts, pints and meals out - Scotland begins 'highest risk' changes to lockdown

The First Minister's urged people to be responsible

Author: John CallanPublished 15th Jul 2020

People will be able to go to get their hair cut in Scotland for the first time since the start of the coronavirus lockdown from today.

Indoor areas of pubs and restaurants are also re-opening, as the country's hospitality industry comes back to life.

The likes of museums, galleries, monuments, cinemas and libraries are also being allowed to take visitors.

Strict limitations on weddings and funerals have also been slackened a little, although numbers remain limited and social distancing will still need to be observed.

Meanwhile places of worship can open their doors for communal prayer.

All businesses welcoming back customers have brought in extra hygiene precautions to lower the risk of the virus spreading.

Despite the new freedoms, the First Minister's issued a warning of the risks involved.

Nicola Sturgeon told Wednesday's Scottish Government's coronavirus briefing: "The changes that come into force are the highest risk changes so far since we started to come out of lockdown because many of them involve indoor activity and we know the the risk of the virus spreading indoors, in a pub for example, is significantly higher than outdoors.''

"I would make a plea to all customers to accept that, if you want to go somewhere like a hairdresser or a place of worship or to a popular restaurant, you will be asked to provide contact details.

"You should co-operate with anyone who is asking you to do that.

"In fact, if you're not prepared to provide your contact details, my message to you is pretty blunt - don't go to these places, because you could be putting others at greater risk.

Other businesses like beauticians and personal retail services such as beauticians and tailors cannot reopen until July 22.

That's also the date when colleges and universities can start bringing students back on campus.

We haven't been given a date yet for things like live events, amateur contact sport for adults, gyms, driving lessons or non-essential indoor offices.

Hear all the latest news from the North East of Scotland on Northsound 1. Listen on FM, via our Rayo app, DAB, or smart speaker.