Lockdown could be eased from the end of the month in Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon has announced that lockdown measures could be eased within days of 28 May, if the progress against coronavirus continues.

Scotland’s First Minister said that people might be able to meet up someone from another household, participate in some sports and visit garden centres.

Sturgeon said a “route map” will be published on Thursday and the reproduction rate of coronavirus will be outlined, with findings of the weekly National Records of Scotland (NRS) report.

The First Minister said: “Within a few days of that, we will aim to allow, for example, more outdoor activity such as being able to sit in the park, meet up outdoors with someone from another household as long as you stay socially distant, some limited outdoor sporting activities like golf and fishing, the opening of garden centres and recycling facilities, and the resumption of some outdoor work.”

Sturgeon told the briefing, “Within two weeks, my hope is that we will be taking some concrete steps on the journey back to normality.

“As I’ve said before, it won’t be normality as we knew it because the virus will not have gone away but it will be a journey to a better balance – I hope – than the one we have today.

“As we take each step, we must make sure that the ground beneath us is as solid as possible.

“That’s why sticking with the lockdown restrictions a bit longer to suppress the virus more is so important because that will mean we can start to take these steps with the confidence that we have alternative means of effectively keeping it under control.”