Thread by @theSNP

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I want to thank our health and care workers. You are continuing to do extraordinary work in such challenging circumstances. We all feel a deep debt of gratitude to you."

NS: "I have one issue that I want to talk about today. That relates to lockdown."

NS: "Let me emphasise at the outset that the lockdown in Scotland remains in place. As I have set out before, the rate of transmission of the virus in Scotland, the R number you have become used to hearing us talk about, is still too high for any significant change to be safe."

NS: "The R number may be slightly higher here than in other parts of the UK at this point. That means we must be very cautious and careful about where we proceed to from here."

NS: "Having made real progress in recent weeks - and I think you can tell from the figures that I am setting out day after day that we have made real progress - the objective now for all of us must be to consolidate and solidify that progress."

NS: "We mustn't squander our progress by easing up too soon or by sending mixed messages that result in people thinking that it's OK to ease up now."

NS: "Let me be very blunt about the consequences if we were to do that. People will die unnecessarily. And instead of being able to loosen restrictions, hopefully, in the near future, we will be faced instead with having to tighten them.

We must not take that risk."

NS: "So for that reason, my basic message for Scotland remains the same as it has been.

Please stay at home except for essential purposes."

NS: "I have made clear, however, that the Scottish Government will keep what constitutes an ‘essential purpose’ under review, and that we were considering making one immediate change - to the guidance relating to exercise."

NS: "I can confirm that the Scottish Cabinet met earlier this afternoon and agreed a change to that guidance."

NS: "At present, you are only allowed to leave home to exercise once a day. From tomorrow, that once-a-day limit will be removed."

NS: "So if you want to go for a walk more often - or to go for a run and also a walk - then you can do so."

NS: "It is important to stress this new advice does not apply if you or someone in your household has symptoms of Covid-19, or if you received a letter explaining that you are in the shielded group. In those cases, you should still stay at home completely."

NS: "And for everybody, all other lockdown restrictions remain in place."

NS: "When you are exercising, you must stay relatively close to your own home and at all times at least 2 metres away from people from other households."

NS: "And although the rules permit exercise – such as walking – they do not yet extend to outdoor leisure activities such as sunbathing, picnics or barbecues."

NS: "The fact that you are allowed to exercise more than once is definitely not a licence to start meeting up in groups at the park or the beach."

NS: "Doing that risks spreading the virus, and could potentially force us to reintroduce stricter guidelines or toughen up the regulations and penalties. in future."

NS: "This is instead a small but important change to one part of the lockdown requirements."

NS: "We believe that it will bring benefits to health and wellbeing – particularly for people who live in flats and don’t have access to private gardens, and for children, who I know will have found the once a day limit difficult..."

NS: "..and it will bring those benefits without having a major impact on the spread of the virus."

NS: "However - and this is really important - the other basic principles and rules of lockdown remain the same. Unless you are doing some exercise, or performing another essential task such as buying food or medicine, you should stay at home."

NS: "And you should not meet up with people from other households – because that is how the virus gets a chance to spread.

This is the only change the Scottish Government judges that it is safe to make right now, without risking a rapid resurgence of the virus."

NS: "We do not, at this point, want to see more businesses opening up – or more people going to work.

And we are not yet changing who can or should be at school."

NS: "You may hear the Prime Minister announce other immediate changes tonight for England - as is his right. I don’t expect these immediate changes to be significant and I predict that any differences with the position here in Scotland will be relatively minor."

NS: "However, for the avoidance of doubt, let me be clear - except for the one change I have confirmed today, the rules here haven’t changed. We remain in lockdown for now and my ask of you remains to stay at home."

NS: "However, we will continue to monitor the evidence closely and make further changes as soon as we can."

NS: "I want to give you as much visibility of that as I can so let me share with you that over this next week - as we hopefully see more evidence of a downward trend in virus..."

NS: "..we will assess whether it is possible to further extend the range of permissible outdoor activities that you can do on your own or at a safe physical distance."

NS: "We will also consider whether garden centres can re-open, and we will think about whether some additional forms of outdoor work - particularly where people work on their own or at a distance - can safely resume."

NS: "We will also be looking urgently - in close discussion with councils - at the possibility of reopening waste and recycling centres.

I will update you further on these issues next weekend."

NS: "Beyond that we will continue to consider when and how more businesses can safely start to re-open, what changes will be required to public transport, and when and how children can start returning to school."

NS: "On that latter point, though, I do not expect that schools in Scotland will start to return as early as 1 June.

As well as announcing immediate changes, I understand that the Prime Minister will also tonight set out a longer term plan for England."

NS: "The Scottish Government has not yet seen the full detail of this plan, so it is not possible for us to simply adopt it for Scotland - and indeed the evidence may well tell us that moving at exactly the same pace is not appropriate."

NS: "We will certainly consider it carefully and we will take our own expert advice on it. And as soon as possible we will set out our own view on the phasing of a more substantial lifting of the lockdown."

NS: "We are already working with businesses to produce guidance specific to the needs of industry, employees and public health in Scotland."

NS: "We will publish that guidance, sector by sector, in the coming days and weeks - our early priority is to give guidance and visibility to the construction, manufacturing and retail sectors."

NS: "Lastly, in areas which are the responsibility of the UK Government even in Scotland, we will make sure that our views and concerns are known. For example - we expect confirmation tonight of a period of quarantine for people travelling into the UK."

NS: "I have made it clear that I believe that this is vital to our efforts to contain the virus in the period ahead, and I would encourage the UK Government to introduce it as soon as possible."

NS: "Lastly, let me say something about co-operation between the four nations of the UK.

I remain committed to the closest possible co-operation, collaboration and alignment. And, let me stress again, I have no interest in politics when it comes to tackling this virus."

NS: "It is perfectly consistent with an overall 4 nations approach to have a pragmatic acceptance that we may move at different speeds if the evidence tells us that is necessary - and I believe we do now have that acceptance."

NS: "But genuine consultation and alignment of messages - even, perhaps especially, when the evidence is putting us on slightly different timelines - remains important."

NS: "We should not be reading of each other’s plans for the first time in the newspapers.

And decisions that are being taken for one nation only - for good, evidence-based reasons - should not be presented as if they apply UK-wide."

NS: "Clarity of message is paramount if we expect all of you to know exactly what it is we are asking of you. As leaders, we have a duty to deliver that clarity to those we are accountable to, not confuse it."

NS: "To that end I have asked the UK government not to deploy their 'Stay Alert' ad campaign in Scotland."

NS: "Because the message in Scotland at this stage is not stay at home if you can. The message is, except for the essential reasons you know about, stay at home, full stop."

NS: "Fundamentally, we all have a responsibility - and it is a heavy one - to make decisions and set policies for based on our own data of what is safe and what is not."

NS: "I am clear that for Scotland, at the moment, relaxing too many restrictions too quickly creates the risk that the virus will take off again. I am not prepared to take that risk."

NS: "That is why - except for the fact that from tomorrow you can go out to exercise more than once a day - the current lockdown restrictions remain in place."

NS: "I hope that it will be possible to lift more of them in the days and weeks ahead - and we are making plans for that - but at the moment, the risks are still too great."

NS: "For all of us, in fact, the way in which we emerge from lockdown that bit more quickly, is to stick with the current lockdown restrictions.

It is easier for us to start leaving lockdown, the lower the R number is, and the fewer infectious cases there are."

NS: "So please, stay at home except for when you are buying food or medicines, or exercising."

NS: "Go for walks or runs more than once a day if you want to - it’s good for your health and wellbeing."

NS: "But stay more than two meters from other people when you are out, and do not meet up with people from other households."

NS: "Wear a face covering if you are in a shop or on public transport. And isolate completely if you or someone else in your household has symptoms."

NS: "I know that these restrictions continue to be tough. And I know that hearing any talk about easing the lockdown, might make them seem even tougher. But please, stick with it."

NS: "We are making progress. But - even as we stay in touch by phone, by social media or by video calls - we still need to stay apart from each other.

We still need to stay at home."

NS: "By doing that, we will continue to slow the spread of the virus, we will protect the NHS, and we will save lives. Thank you, once again, to everyone who is doing that.

And, please, stay at home."