Michael Gove will today hold a four-nation Cobra meeting over concerns around the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The Levelling Up secretary will meet with the first ministers and deputy ministers of the devolved nations on Friday afternoon.
Leaders are set to discuss the latest Covid-19 data and how to co-ordinate the response to the rising number of Omicron cases being detected in across the country.
The Prime Minister's official spokesperson confirmed the meeting, saying: "Given the ongoing situation with the Omicron variant, we think it's a sensible time to have those discussions with the devolved administrations to further our ongoing coordination work."
It comes days after Downing Street rejected pleas from Scottish and Welsh First Ministers for an emergency meeting.
The spokesperson added: "This variant has some significantly concerning characteristics.
"We are confident that it spreads much faster than Delta and there is growing evidence of vaccine escape, which is of concern and potentially means that we are going to see increasing hospitalisation rates and sadly deaths.
"We are taking action early to slow the growth of this variant."
Earlier today, first minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that Scotland could see a “tsunami of infections” from the new Omicron variant.
“The fact is, we do face a renewed and very severe challenge in the face of of the new Omicron variant,” she said at a briefing in Edinburgh.
“To be blunt, because of the much greater and faster transmissibility of this new variant, we may be facing – indeed we may be starting to experience – a potential tsunami of infections.”
She said Omicron is likely to become the dominant variant of Covid-19 in Scotland in “days, not weeks”.
