First Minister confirms Covid certification scheme will be rolled out next month

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

A Covid certification scheme for nightclubs and similar venues is due to come into effect from next month, the First Minister has confirmed.

Nicola Sturgeon shared the news with MSPs at Holyrood this afternoon.

She said the scheme would be rolled out from 5am on 1st October.

As well as nightclubs, Mrs Sturgeon said the scheme would apply to live indoor unseated events of more than 500 people, as well as large-scale, live outdoor events of more than 4,000 people.

“We have been working in recent days to finalise the definition of nightclubs and similar settings,” she said.

She said premises open between midnight and 5am, which served alcohol after midnight and provided live or recorded music with a designated space for dancing would be required to seek proof of vaccination.

She also spoke of a Covid status app available to download from 30th September, designed to provide a digital record of a user’s vaccination status.

Earlier, Mrs Sturgeon said the country had seen a fall in new cases, the steepest of which has been seen in the 20-24 age category.

She said the decline in new cases was “very encouraging” but added the position continued to be “fragile”.