Face covering rules will remain in place in Scotland until April 18, Nicola Sturgeon announced today.
Speaking at the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister confirmed the legal requirement would remain in place for shops, public transport and other selected , before being converted to guidance.
However, from this Monday (April 4), face masks will no longer be required in places of worship, weddings, funerals, and other commemorative events.
While the legal requirement to wear face masks will drop, guidance will continue to encourage the public to wear face coverings in certain places.
Speaking to the Scottish Parliament in a scheduled covid briefing, Ms Sturgeon said: "From next Monday April 4, it will no longer be a legal requirement to wear a face covering in places of worship or while attending a marriage ceremony, a civil partnership registration, or a funeral service or commemorative event.
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"And then the wider legal requirement - applying to shops, certain other indoor settings and public transport - will be converted to guidance two weeks later on April 18.
"We will, of course, continue to encourage the wearing of face coverings in certain indoor places, especially where significant numbers of people are present.
"This phased approach strikes a sensible balance between our desire to remove this one remaining legal measure, and the common sense need for continued caution - not least for the sake of the NHS - while this wave of infection subsides."
The First Minister had previously signalled their use would move from being a legal requirement to being guidance on Monday, March 21.
However, she told MSPs on March 15 that with the "current spike" in cases, ministers had agreed it was "prudent" for the measure to remain in place.
The most recent statistics from ONS Covid infection survey, for the week ending March 20, indicated that that one in 11 people in Scotland had Covid - the highest level of infection so far recorded.
Despite the continuing high number of covid cases, Ms Sturgeon emphasised that there were "grounds for optimism".
She said: "Today, 9,610 new cases identified through PCR or lateral flow tests will be reported.
"However, it is important to set these figures in some context. Two weeks ago, there were on average just over 12,400 new cases being reported each day. One week ago, the average case number was still high, at around 12,000 a day.
"However, over the past week, it has fallen to 10,200 a day. That is a 15% fall over the last 7 days, and it is fairly consistent across all age groups.
"That gives us grounds for optimism that this latest wave of infection may now have peaked. "
