Scotland’s public health experts are saying that while you can make non-essential journeys within North Ayrshire as of today, please adhere to the new ‘Stay Local’ rule even during this Easter Weekend.
Restrictions on non-essential travel across local authority boundaries remain in place. People must stay within their council area for non-essential shopping and should only travel to another area for essential shopping if there are no practical alternatives. People should also continue to work from home where they can to prevent unnecessary contact that could risk transmission of the virus.
Lockdown is also being cautiously eased when more services to open from Monday 05 April.
Hairdressers, garden centres, car showrooms and forecourts, homeware stores and non-essential click and collect services will be able to open from Monday 05 April, subject to enhanced safety measures including physical distancing, face coverings and pre-booking where appropriate.
More college students will be able to return to on-campus learning and 12 to 17-year-olds will be able to resume outdoor contact sports from this date.
The latest easing of restrictions comes as data shows continued suppression of Coronavirus (COVID-19), and progress on vaccination. Virtually all over 65-year olds have now received a first dose of the vaccine, and the average daily case rate is now 539 new cases per day, a decline of more than 75% since early January.
Kenneth Gibson said:
“It will be easier to relax more restrictions in the future if case numbers remain under control, so when things open up slightly this weekend, please continue to stick to the rules, and follow the advice and the instructions given by store staff to keep you and the other customers safe.
“While some areas suffer from higher infection rates than others, please only Stay Local until further notice and keep follow the FACTS advice when you are out and about to help us achieve further progress towards normality together.
“If we all take care, I am hopeful that further easing of lockdown will go ahead on 26 April – but it all depends on what happens over the next three weeks.”
The timetable for easing restrictions can be found here.
ENDS
