Nicola Sturgeon has cut the number of people that can gather in pubs and restaurants in Scotland to six people from two households and made it mandatory for all hospitality staff to wear masks as well as customers who are arriving, leaving and going to the toilet because the pandemic is “accelerating.”
The new limits will officially come into force on Monday 14th September, although she said that she was asking people to immediately abide by the stricter new limits on gatherings.
Scotland is currently recording three times more positive cases of the virus on average each day than it was three weeks ago – with a further 161 cases being logged on Thursday.
Eight people from three households had been allowed to meet indoors in Scotland, with larger gathering permitted outside.
The rules also a apply to homes and gardens and the same ‘rule of six’ restrictions come into force in England on Monday 14th September too.
She said in today’s briefing that the “tightening and extension” of lockdown rules was aimed at helping to “reduce transmission but also simplify he rules as much as possible”.
“The hospitality industry has put a lot of effort into creating safe spaces for people to meet and we hope these additional protections will help ensure the sector can remain open, with high levels of compliance.”