Booster jabs will be required to access events and nightclubs in Scotland using the vaccine passport scheme, Nicola Sturgeon announced on Tuesday as she said that her tougher restrictions would end soon.
The First Minister said her limit of 500 spectators at live outdoor events will be scrapped on Monday, allowing Scottish football fixtures and Six Nations rugby matches to be played in full stadiums.
But the restrictions she introduced on Boxing Day, including one-metre social distancing and table service in licensed premises, are not scheduled to be abolished until Jan 24.
The First Minister also unveiled plans to toughen and extend her controversial vaccine passport scheme, currently used to access nightclubs and large events, with Scots needing to present evidence that they have received three jabs rather than two.
She said she would also re-examine “extending the scope of Covid certification to other venues”, raising the possibility that pubs will be included.
‘Cases may be at or close to the peak’
Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that the organisers of large events will have to check the passports of at least half those attending, rather than the current 20 per cent or a minimum of 1,000 people – whichever is higher.
Attendees who have not had a booster will have the option to present evidence of a recent negative lateral flow test instead.
Ms Sturgeon bowed to pressure to ease the restrictions after disclosing that average daily cases had fallen by 17 per cent over the past week, which she said “gives us some hope that cases may be at or close to the peak”.
Her statement at Holyrood came after The Telegraph disclosed that the Scottish government’s figures showed Scotland’s Covid rate was higher than England’s last week despite the tougher restrictions.
On Tuesday, she insisted that the measures had contributed to the number of infections in Scotland being far lower than had been predicted before Christmas, although the omicron variant is far milder than delta.
But Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, said the restrictions had failed to make much difference and the real reasons why the situation was better than expected were the UK’s booster rollout and Scots changing their behaviour.
