The First Minister announced earlier this afternoon that around one in 20 people in Scotland have Covid, while introducing new isolation and testing measures.
Two important changes will come into effect at midnight tonight.
Firstly, for those who test positive for Covid, the initial advice to self-isolate for ten days will be reduced to seven days if you do not have a fever and record two negative lateral flow tests – one on day six and one 24 hours after.
If both tests are negative, isolation can finish after seven days; if not, the full ten days must be taken.
Household contacts under the age of 18 years and 4 months and those over that age bracket who have had all three vaccines, do not need to self-isolate; instead they must take a lateral flow test every day for seven days ahead.
If the lateral flow test comes back positive any time within those seven days they must isolate.
For those who are over that age and are not fully vaccinated, they must get a PCR test and isolate for the full ten days.
PCR test changes have also been announced. As of tomorrow if a lateral flow test comes back positive and you do not have symptoms you do not need to book a PRC test, instead, register results online and isolate for ten days.
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has led to a surge in cases, leading Nicola Sturgeon to reiterate the importance of limiting social contact where possible.
She said: “After two long years of this pandemic, I know that asking people to cut social interaction is just not feasible and it would be damaging of course to mental health and wellbeing.
“However, limiting contact as far as we can and thinking carefully about the interactions that matter most to us is important just now.
“When at least one in 20 of us has the virus, as is the case now, the risk of getting it when we mix with others is really significant, so if we limit the occasions in which we do mix we also reduce our own risk of catching a virus that we know could have a nasty impact on our health.”
New evidence has revealed that Omicron causes less severe illness than previous strains, especially for under 60s.
The First Minister stated that the understanding of the pressures of Omicron on hospitals is still developing but it is already having considerable impact.
There does appear to be a stable number of patients in intensive care with the virus, however hospital admissions are rising.
Due to the variant having a higher transmission rate, more people are in hospital with Covid, which has put pressure on the NHS as enhanced infection controls are needed.
Ms Sturgeon said: “At times of very high levels of infection, the risk of a false positive lateral flow result is very low indeed, around just three in 10,000.
“The safest thing to do at this stage is to treat a positive lateral flow test as confirmation of Covid, even if you have no symptoms.
“This allows us to maximise testing capacity and ensure a speedier start to the process of contact tracing and advice.”
No further measures were introduced today. The same restrictions will remain in place for the coming week with limits on large gatherings and continued distancing in public indoor places.
The advice to limit contact with other households and gatherings to a maximum of three households will also remain in place.
Table service in hospitality settings where alcohol is served will remain in place until January 17.
The First Minister, again, emphasised the importance of getting vaccinated, and for those eligible to get their third dose.
At the end of 2021, around 3 million people, which equates to 77 per cent of those eligible, had received their booster jag.