Scotland will end its COVID passport scheme next Monday and the legal requirement to wear face coverings in some indoor settings will be dropped from 21 March, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The decisions were announced as part of the Scottish government’s plans for managing the pandemic with a new “strategic framework”.

From 21 March, wearing face coverings in indoor settings like public transport will become guidance.

Other restrictions will also end on the same date.

Places of worship, businesses and service providers will no longer be required to follow COVID guidance, and customer contact details will no longer have to be kept for the purposes of contact tracing.

The first minister outlined her government’s commitment to “continued access to PCR and lateral flow testing free of charge where we transition to a system of testing that is more targeted”.

In March, she said the government would publish a detailed plan for testing “describing the scale of infrastructure that will remain in place for the longer term”.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said all of England’s legal restrictions would be lifted on Thursday – including the requirement to self-isolate for those who test positive – while free mass-testing will stop in April.

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