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Businesses and individuals in Angus will be given greater freedoms from Friday and Saturday as Coronavirus restrictions are eased.

The area will move into Tier 2, meaning hotel, restaurant and bar owners can now serve alcohol with a meal indoors until 8pm and stay open until 10.30pm outdoors, while Dundee, Perth & Kinross and Fife stay at Level 3.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed to MSPs in the Scottish Parliament on 8 December that no area of Scotland will remain in Level 4 when changes come into force on Friday 11 December.

The toughest tier of restrictions was imposed on 11 Scottish council areas – including Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Stirling – on 20 November.

They will all now move down to Level 3.  All other council areas will remain in their current levels apart from Dumfries and Galloway and and the Scottish Borders, which will move to Level 1 from Level 2.

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that 33 Coronavirus deaths and 692 positive tests had been recorded in the past 24 hours leading up to the statement, but the first vaccinations against Covid-19 in the morning mean “we may now be at the beginning of the end of the pandemic.”

” In reaching decisions today, we have had to consider the potential overall impact of moving to a lower level of restrictions at the same time as the Christmas period begins in earnest,” she said.

“That has led us to a proportionate but still cautious set of conclusions.”

Angus Council leader David Fairweather welcomed the move, saying “The numbers in Angus have gone down so it is the right decision.  If people stick with it, hopefully we can go down to level one in the near future.”