Sturgeon warns Omicron could 'run riot' in weeks ahead

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said Scotland is facing a “tsunami” of Covid cases due to the transmissibility of the Omicron variant.

From today, household contacts of someone with the virus are being asked to isolate for 10 days, regardless of vaccination status.

It comes as data shows the effectiveness of the vaccines is significantly diminished by the new variant, although booster shots offer good protection against symptomatic disease.

Yesterday, Sturgeon told a news conference: “We may be facing, indeed we may be starting to experience, a potential tsunami of infections.

“Our estimate at this stage is that the doubling time for Omicron cases is between two and three days and, actually, it may be closer to two days than three days.”

Her comments followed advice from Public Health Scotland that all Christmas parties be cancelled after several outbreaks of the new variant were linked to them.

National Clinical Director Jason Leitch also made an appeal for more vaccinators to come forward to step up the rollout of the booster programme.

Sturgeon said on Tuesday that Omicron was expected to cause a “continued and potentially rapid rise in cases in the days ahead”.

She urged people to work from home for the next six weeks, as well as continue to observe other protections such as face masks, taking up the vaccine and regular handwashing.

Public Health Scotland made its announcement about Christmas parties after the number of confirmed cases of Covid rose from 389 at the beginning of the week to 3,196 yesterday.

Its director of public health science, Dr Nick Phin, said that “by postponing some plans we can all do our bit to protect ourselves and our loved ones”.

Leitch, who is becoming a vaccinator himself, urged others to come forward saying that “even a shift a week will help, so if you’re a dentist, a nurse, an optometrist or a doctor and you can help us then please contact your local health board”.

“Every vaccine dose given is another step out of the pandemic,” he added. “If you don’t have a clinical background, it’s not a problem, you can still assist the programme in another capacity through the British Red Cross.”