The first minister says the propensity for hugging explains why weddings and funerals will continue to face tighter restrictions than beer gardens.
The Scottish Government has announced new guidelines allowing visitors to ceremonies like funerals and weddings, but limited the number of attendees to 20.
There is no limit on the overall number of people who can congregate in an outdoor beer garden provided they have the capacity to socially distance properly.
When asked why funeral and wedding ceremonies were capped at 20 people, Ms Sturgeon said: “I have found myself asking the same as I learn more about these things, and it is one of these things that, on the face of it, doesn’t make sense but when we think about it more it maybe does.
“A beer garden may in total have more than 20 people in it, but the group you would be in should still be limited in terms of household and numbers.
“I’m not going to say never, but you are probably not going to be hugging someone in another group (in the beer garden), that has nothing to do with yours.
“If you think about a wedding though, the 20 people there are all going to know each other well. You are probably going to be part of the same family, or different families that are about to become closely connected, so the tendency to be a bit closer to each other when we should still be socially distanced.
“So there would be a tendency not to stick to that which is potentially greater. It is about caution and just being a bit more careful because of the context.
“It is not perfect and there will be anomalies in what we do because we are dealing with such an absurd situation and some of these things won’t make sense, to be candid about it.
“But usually, when you see something that doesn’t appear to make sense there is usually a bit of analysis behind it, so in summary that is why weddings are capped at a lower level than you might get in a beer garden.”
