SCOTS can look forward to their first professional haircut of the year next week as Nicola Sturgeon confirmed an easing of lockdown rules.
The First Minister said the progress of the vaccine programme is "if anything, better than we could have dared hoped for back at the turn of the year".
She said the current "stay at home" rule will be lifted from Friday, to be replaced by a requirement to stay local.
READ MORE: Covid Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon confirms a further 411 cases in Scotland
This means travel restrictions between council areas will remain in place for now.
From Monday, April 5, hairdressers and barbers will be allowed to reopen.
All shops will be allowed to operate click and collect services, and homeware stores, car showrooms and garden centres will also be able to open.
Contact sports will resume for 12 to 17-year-olds, and university and college students will be allowed to return to on-campus learning.
Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government hopes to make further changes later in April, as previously planned.
This will see all secondary school children return to school full-time after the Easter holidays.
Restrictions will then be eased further on April 26, by which point everyone over the age of 50 should have been offered their first jag.
From this date, mainland Scotland could move from level 4 to level 3, with travel restrictions lifted between council areas.
Shops will reopen and hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants will be able to sell alcohol outside and meals and non-alcoholic drinks indoors.
READ MORE: Covid mutations could leave vaccines ineffective in less than a year, say Scots experts
Ms Sturgeon said Scotland has made good progress in suppressing the virus.
She said: "We're not averaging 539 new cases per day. That is a decline of more than three-quarters since early January.
"And the number of deaths from Covid has fallen even more sharply than that, which is likely to be an effect of the vaccination programme.
"The number of deaths is down by more than 80 per cent in the past two months."
But she stressed there are "still no grounds for complacency", with hundreds of people contracting the virus every day.
She added: "In fact, it is really important right now that while the vaccination programme continues to be rolled out, that all of us remain hyper-vigilant in how we're going about our daily lives.
"The data suggests that the number of new cases having fallen throughout January and February are now plateauing rather than continuing to decline significantly."
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