Legal requirement for face masks set to end

The legal requirement to wear face coverings in Scotland is set to end, the First Minister has confirmed.

Giving her regular Covid statement to the Scottish Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs her government will adopt a “phased approach” to wearing face masks over the coming weeks, in order to pass the current wave of coronavirus infections.

Sturgeon said: “We have therefore concluded subject as always to the state of the pandemic that the legal requirement to wear face coverings should be replaced with guidance on the following phased basis.

“From next Monday April 4, it will no longer be a legal requirement to wear a face covering in places of worship or while attending a marriage ceremony, a civil partnership registration, or a funeral service or commemorative event.

“And then the wider legal requirement applying to shops, certain other indoor settings and public transport will be converted to guidance two weeks later on April 18.”

On the current wave of coronavirus infections, Sturgeon cited an ONS Covid infection survey for the week ending March 20, which shows that one in 11 people in Scotland have Covid – the highest level of infection so far recorded by the weekly survey.

Sturgeon said: “Today, 9,610 new cases identified through PCR or lateral flow tests will be reported.

“However, it is important to set these figures in some context. Two weeks ago, there were on average just over 12,400 new cases being reported each day. One week ago, the average case number was still high, at around 12,000 a day.

“However, over the past week, it has fallen to 10,200 a day. That is a 15 per cent fall over the seven days, and it is fairly consistent across all age groups.

“That gives us grounds for optimism that this latest wave of infection may now have peaked.”

On wearing face masks in schools, Sturgeon added: “We would expect the requirement in schools to lift along with the requirement for the rest of the population.”