What did Nicola Sturgeon say in her speech today and how will Scotland’s lockdown be eased?

Nicola Sturgeon hopes to ease stay-at-home restrictions in Scotland by April 5 as part of the country’s route out of lockdown.

The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament that “if all goes according to plan”, the country will then move back to the “levels” system of coronavirus restrictions from April 26, with all council areas moving to Level 3.

It came as Scotland’s youngest pupils headed back to the classroom on Monday with the First Minister reiterating that education will be a top priority in the country’s lockdown exit plan.

Other immediate priorities will be the return sports activities for young people and limited social interaction for adults, the Scottish Government said.

It also follows Boris Johnson’s announcement that shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality in England would reopen on 12 April if strict conditions were met as part of a four-step plan to ease lockdown.

Here’s everything you need to know about the announcement:

What did Nicola Sturgeon announce?

The headline is the Scottish Government hopes to have removed the stay at home restriction by April 5.

Speaking to MSPs in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon said lockdown would ease in phases, separated by at least three weeks, culminating in the removal of the stay at home order and education returning fully on April 5.

After lockdown is lifted, Scotland will move back to the levels system.

The rest of primary school years, as well as more senior phase pupils in secondary schools, will be part of the second phase – which will come no earlier than March 15 – along with an increase in outdoor mixing to four people from two households.

Communal worship, a further extension to outdoor mixing and more freedoms in retail are also hoped to be put in place from April 5.

How long will it take for Scotland to get back to ‘normal’?

Scotland’s First Minister has said she is “optimistic” about restoring “more normality” to people’s lives in the coming months.

Announcing Scotland’s revised road map out of lockdown, Nicola Sturgeon said Scots would have to accept some trade-offs in the near future to see a longer-term unlocking in the country.

She said: “It is important to stress, of course, that all of this depends on us continuing to suppress the virus now – and continuing to accept some trade-offs for a period, for example on international travel.

“However, if we do so, I am optimistic that we can make good progress in returning more normality to our lives and the economy.

“I know this is still a cautious approach which though absolutely essential to control the virus and protect health, is extremely difficult for many businesses.”

Will Scotland’s lockdown be lifted in stages?

Scotland will return to a regional levels system from the last week in April if virus suppression continues, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister told MSPs the five-level system, separated by council areas, will return and she hopes those in Level 4 will be able to drop down to Level 3, which would see sectors such as non-essential retail reopen.

She said: “It is therefore from the last week of April that we would expect to see phased but significant reopening of the economy, including non-essential retail, hospitality and services like gyms and hairdressers.

“And, of course, the more of us who are vaccinated and the more we all stick by the rules now, the faster that safe pace is likely to be – if we all stay in this together, our progress will be greater.”

How many people have been vaccinated?

The latest statistics show that more than 1.4m have now had their first jab, and it is now being offered to people with underlying health conditions, and unpaid carers.

Will travel restrictions end?

Not yet. Travel restrictions in Scotland will remain for “some time yet”, Ms Sturgeon has said.

Unveiling the revised road map out of lockdown in the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister said it was important that cases of the virus, particularly of new variants of the virus, were not imported into the country.

She said: “We saw over the summer how new cases were imported into Scotland, after the virus had almost been eliminated. We do not want that to happen again.

“In particular we do not want to import new variants of the virus, which could be more resistant to the vaccines that we are currently using.

“And so the strategic framework rightly emphasises the importance of both travel restrictions and test and protect. They will help us to ease restrictions safely.”

When is the next update expected?

Ms Sturgeon has said she hopes to be able to give more detail in mid-March on the easing of restrictions in Scotland.

The First Minister said she hoped lockdown could be eased by the end of April, with all council areas in Scotland then moving into Level 3 of its tiered approach.

While she said she hoped to give “as much clarity as possible” on Tuesday when she announced the new approach, Ms Sturgeon added she wanted to avoid “giving false assurance or picking arbitrary dates that have no grounding at this stage in any objective assessment”.

She continued: “I am as confident as I can be that the indicative, staged timetable that I have set out today – from now until late April when the economy will start to substantially reopen – is a reasonable one.

“And in mid-March – when we have made further progress on vaccines and have greater understanding of the impact of the initial phase of school return – I hope we can set out then more detail of the further reopening that will take place over April and May and into a summer when we hope to be living with much greater freedoms than we are today.”