No extension of COVID certification scheme for the time being
SCOTTISH pubs and bars will be able to drop table service and physical distancing requirements, and nightclubs able to reopen, from next Monday (24th January).
First minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed today that the measures, introduced on 27th December in response to rising COVID-19 cases, will be dropped next week.
Nightclubs will still be required to adhere to the COVID certification scheme, and the rules will be tweaked so that clubs cannot avoid the scheme by shutting their dancefloors.
“We intend to amend the definition here to provide greater clarity and prevent premises from avoiding certification simply from having tables on the dancefloor, claiming it is not a dancefloor, but nevertheless permitting dancing,” said the first minister.
However, the Scottish Government has taken the decision not to roll the scheme out to wider hospitality settings for the time being.
“Given that cases are now falling quite rapidly and the current wave is now receding we decided that we would not, at this stage, extend the COVID certification scheme to other premises,” said Sturgeon.
“We will, of course, reconsider this should circumstances – and therefore the balance of judgement – change in any significant way. If cases were to start to rise very sharply again, extension of certification may well be a more proportionate alternative to other, more restrictive, measures.”
