Sturgeon: No five-mile travel limit to see your parents

You will be able to visit family members living in a different household even if it means travelling more than five miles, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

Discussing changes likely to begin from the end of next week, the First Minister asked Scots to “use their judgement” when planning to meet other households.

As an example, she suggested that if you having to travel a long enough distance to visit relatives that you need to use the toilet in their house, you shouldn’t visit them.

There is a risk if you are infectious of leaving the virus on their surfaces, Sturgeon said, particularly if you are visiting elderly family members more vulnerable to coronavirus.

The Scottish Government’s plan for phase one of easing the Covid-19 lockdown says people can meet members of one other household outside, provided they stay socially distanced from each other.

However, the new guidance, published on Thursday, also instructs Scots to only travel locally for exercise or recreational purposes, suggesting a limit of five miles.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s press briefing on Friday, Sturgeon clarified this five-mile limit did not extend to going to see family and loved ones.

She also further explained the rule on meeting other households, saying you can only visit members from one household at a time – but you can meet people from other households at different times.

The First Minister reiterated that none of these changes are in effect yet – for now, the lockdown remains in place and you must not meet other households.

She said: “We do need to stick with it for a few more days.

“Not all of the phase one measures will necessarily be introduced next Thursday, but I hope that most of them will be, or at least a day or two afterwards.”

Sturgeon continued: “You’ll be able in this first phase to sit outside or sunbathe in parks or other open areas.

“And as long as you stay two metres apart, you will be able to meet outside with people from another household including in private gardens.

“That doesn’t limit you to seeing just one specific household during this phase.

“You can see different households but we are asking you only to meet with one at a time.”

She added: “We’re also not intending to put a five-mile limit on the distance you can travel to, for example, sit with your parents in their garden.

“But we are asking you to use judgement, and increasingly as we come out of lockdown, I’m going to more and more be relying on you to exercise the good judgement that I know you will.

“If, for example, you have to travel a long distance to see a relative outside, you’re more likely to perhaps go inside the house to, for example, use the bathroom.

“We don’t want you to go inside others’ houses in this phase because if you are infectious, maybe without knowing about it, you risk leaving the virus on surfaces inside the house and that would pose a risk to other people.

“Particularly if you are visiting elderly relatives, that is a risk we do not want you to take.”