Boris Johnson is to make a statement to the nation this evening after the UK's covid alert level was raised to 4 amid a rapid increase in Omicron cases.
The country's four chief medical officers and NHS England's national medical director have recommended to ministers that the UK go up to Level 4 from Level 3.
The Prime Minister is set to address the public at 8pm about the booster vaccine programme and is not expected to discuss any new restrictions.
His message will be pre-recorded, meaning the Prime Minister will be able to avoid answering questions about suggestions he broke coronavirus rules by attending a virtual Downing Street staff Christmas quiz last December.
The decision to increase the alert level follows advice from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) after a further 1,239 confirmed cases of the Omicron mutation were recorded in the UK as of Sunday.
The latest statistics show 38 more Omicron cases have been confirmed in Scotland, taking the total to 159.
There were 4,002 coronavirus cases reported north of the border in the last 24 hours, with no new deaths.
Across the UK, a further 1,239 confirmed cases of the Omicron mutation were recorded as of Sunday.
It brings the total number of UK cases of Omicron to 3,137, a 65% increase from Saturday's total of 1,898 UK cases.
It comes after Deputy First Minister John Swinney said all options are on the table for tackling the rise of the Omicron variant.
Speaking on the BBC's The Sunday Show, Mr Swinney said: "Fundamentally we face a very serious threat because Omicron is frankly galloping its way in Scotland and circulating round our communities.
"The challenge for us is that obviously nobody would thank us if we planned on the best case scenario and it turned out to be the worst case scenario that prevails."
"In the space of a week Omicron has changed from being 2% of cases in Scotland to yesterday 18%.
"The doubling rate is just more than two days and that compares to earlier variants of the virus which were closer to 14 days."
