First Minister’s planned easing of restrictions set to offer ‘hope for the future’ 

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Photo: BBC.

New details on the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, including household meetings and the reopening of hospitality, are due to be announced tomorrow.

 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her announcement tomorrow (Tuesday) was likely to reflect “hope for the future” tempered with the need for “continued caution”.

“We are going, we hope, in the right direction and if we stick with it, I’ve very hopeful that by the summer we will have a much greater degree of normality in our lives,” she added.

Ms Sturgeon said tomorrow’s statement would include details for changes planned for 5th April, together with others later in the month.

She also intends to give some indication of changes proposed for mid-May and later – although with less certainty.

With the phased return of schools already underway, Ms Sturgeon said the situation would get “a fair bit better over the weeks and months ahead”.

But she also said a slight increase in cases recently  also showed why “we can’t simply throw caution to the wind”.