Nicola Sturgeon is set to recall Holyrood on Monday as the Scottish cabinet meets to consider the possibility of keeping schools closed throughout January to fight the surge in new coronavirus cases.
The First Minister is to convene a special meeting of Ministers amid growing concern about the new strain of the virus becoming the dominant strain in new infections.
It is understood that that Holyrood’s presiding officer has been asked to recall parliament for a statement by the First Minister on Monday afternoon.
The Scottish government is coming under the same pressures as Boris Johnson to reconsider the opening of schools this month.
Schools in Scotland plan to fully open on January 18 but that is subject to daily assessments of the pandemic and the new variant.
Rapid testing in schools is being considered but the new strain is spreading so fast that ministers may need to extend the lockdown and close schools until February.
All mainland Scotland and Skye are under level 4 restrictions, while the other islands are in level 3. Shetland is on the brink of moving to level 4 amid an outbreak that has infected more than 70 people.
There have been 12,945 new cases in Scotland in the past week, with 2,137 positive cases reported on Saturday.
