Young children in Scotland can hug their grandparents and play with their friends for the first time in more than three months after social distancing rules were relaxed by the government.
Kids aged 11 and under will no longer be required to social distance while outdoors from Friday (July 3), the Scottish government announced today.
The new rule does not apply if the adult is shielding and youngsters will still be expected to stay two metres away while indoors.
Nicola Sturgeon said she wanted children to ‘play more normally with your friends, which I hope you will enjoy’.
While social distancing still applies to kids aged 12 to 17, they will be allowed to meet with different groups of friends at different times of the day, in a move designed to ‘help children enjoy the summer holidays a bit more’.
Visit our live blog for the latest updates: Coronavirus news live
The First Minister said: ‘It also means you won’t be prevented from meeting your friends just because your parents or carers or your brother or sister happens to be meeting their friends.’
Children in all age groups are still restricted to meeting outside in groups of up to eight people from no more than three households.
Meanwhile, people in Scotland will be required to wear face coverings in shops from July 10.
During her daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon said the government would ‘consider a more general relaxation in later phases’ if the country continues to keep the pandemic under control.
Scotland has reported one Covid-19 death in the past 24 hours and the total number of people dying across the country has returned to normal levels, according to official figures.
The first minister said today the science ‘on physical distancing has not changed’ – but added that the chances of coming into contact with an infected person is lower as fewer people are now hit.
Interim Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith has revealed he has written to doctors asking them to identify which children no longer need to shield from the virus.
He said: ‘Findings from new evidence and research now allow us to reconsider and update the advice about which children are at the highest risk’.
Citing work from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, he added: ‘This suggests that many children or young people currently advised to shield should no longer do so as the risk is significantly less than originally assumed.
‘This new guidance, which is supported across the four nations, indicates that many children and young people with conditions such as asthma or diabetes, epilepsy and kidney disease, may no longer need to continue to shield.
‘This means that a lot of children will be able to enjoy what we all hope is a sunny and warm summer period.
‘It also means that, for some children, they will be able to return to school when schools start to reopen in August.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8291209 https://ift.tt/2NWyyT3
No comments:
Post a Comment