Some coronavirus travel restrictions have been removed in Scotland and more people are now able to meet up outdoors.

The latest stage in lockdown easing was announced at an unscheduled Covid-19 briefing by first minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday.

She said the continued decline in virus cases meant the restrictions can be eased earlier than planned.

From Friday, Scots can travel across local authority boundaries for outdoor socialising, recreation and exercise.

But they must follow the “stay local” order for other purposes such as non-essential shopping, and travel to some islands is not allowed.

Rules on gatherings have also been relaxed, with groups of up to six adults from six households now allowed to meet outdoors.

Those vaccinated with the Pfizer jab will “likely” need a third booster shot within 12 months of receiving their second dose.

The company’s chief executive, Albert Bourla, said: “There will be likely a need for a third dose somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there would be an annual revaccination.”

Danielle Zoellner explains:

Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has suggested local lockdowns could be introduced if mass testing fails to suppress the spread of the South African Covid variant.

Surge testing is currently underway in Southwark, in south London, and Barnet, in north London, after a cluster of cases were detected there.

Prof Edmunds, who is a member of the government’s scientific advisory group, Sage, told ITV’s Peston show: “What we are looking at in south London is an example of what we’ll see now in the coming months, as we try our best to keep that variant out or at as low a level as we possibly can.

“If these mass testing events don’t work that well, and we don’t know yet, I mean we’ll have to evaluate this one very carefully, then it’s possible that we’ll have to impose some sort of local restrictions back in place.”

Researchers have warned young people who have already had coronavirus are not necessarily protected from contracting it again.

An observational study of more than 3,000 recruits of the US Marine Corps – aged between 18 and 20, between May and November 2020 – found about 10 per cent of participants who had previously been infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus became reinfected at a later date.

My colleague Sam Hancock has more details:

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. Stay posted for rolling updates and statistics throughout the day.