Nicola Sturgeon announces new restrictions on household mixing at Christmas as Omicron cases increase rapidly

Nicola Sturgeon has said Omicron cases are “increasing exponentially – faster than any variant that has gone before it”.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament about Covid-19, Ms Sturgeon said two people who are known to be infected with the variant have now been admitted to hospital.

She told MSPs: “We expect it to become the dominant strain within days.

“This matters because Omicron is significantly more transmissible than Delta; the R number associated with Delta is around 1 but the R number for Omicron appears to be well over 2 and possibly above 4.

“Cases in Scotland in total have increased by a quarter in the last week, they have risen in all age groups, except the over 85s. Omicron is already contributing to that increase.

“But as it becomes the dominant strain, its much higher R number"

Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to “minimise your social mixing” and only socialise with up to two other households either side of Christmas.

Scotland’s First Minister stressed she was “not asking anyone to cancel Christmas”, but advised people to limit their socialising either side of the holiday.

Setting out the guidance, Ms Sturgeon said: “Turning to Christmas Day specifically, or Christmas Eve or Boxing Day or whenever you have your main family celebration, we are not asking you to cancel or change your plans, and we are not proposing limits on the size of household gatherings.”

She added: “My key request today is this: before and immediately after Christmas, please minimise your social mixing with other households as much as you can.

“However, if you do plan on socialising, either at home or in indoor public places, we are asking that you limit the number of households represented in your group to a maximum of three. And make sure you test before you go.”

The coronavirus booster programme will take priority over the flu vaccine in an attempt to speed up its rollout, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

She told the Scottish Parliament: “Given its vital importance against Omicron, we will prioritise the Covid booster programme over the remainder of the flu vaccination programme for the next few weeks. This will allow many more booster appointments to be made available.”

Ms Sturgeon also said the government was looking to find venues to use as drop-in vaccinations centres, similar to earlier in the year, and health boards were attempting to increase capacity to enable drop in clinics.

She added: “We plan to extend the number and role of volunteers, to ensure that clinical staff can spend as much time as possible supporting the administration of vaccines.

“We will continue to expand the size of the overall vaccination workforce as much as possible and make full use of any military support that is available.”

People who have received their vaccine will also no longer be asked to wait for 15 minutes afterwards in an effort to reduce queues at vaccination centres.