PARTS of Scotland could move straight into Level Two restrictions at the end of April if Covid rates are low enough, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister said moving “further and faster” out of lockdown will depend on how the new Kent variant behaves as restrictions are eased, and whether vaccines are preventing new cases as well as deaths and serious illness.
The Government will be looking “particularly closely” at the impact of schools returning, she added.
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“The virus we are living with right now is different from the virus we were living with when we came out of lockdown last summer,” said Ms Sturgeon.
“More than 80 per cent – 85% – of all cases now are of the new variant. It transmits much more quickly.
“We don’t know, because we haven’t lived with this virus without restrictions up until now, just exactly what’s going to happen when we start…