Nicola Sturgeon has urged people to cancel Christmas parties and work from home as she warned Britain faced a "tsunami" of Omicron infections.
The First Minister, who will attend a Cobra meeting on the pandemic with Boris Johnson and other leaders later today, told Scots the new strain “threatens a rapid and large surge of Covid-19 cases”.
It came as Downing Street doubled down on its position on Christmas parties in England, saying "we do not think there is a need to cancel people coming together in hospitality venues".
The FM said the Scottish Government was acting as Omicron was set to overtake Delta as the most dominant strain "within days", adding Covid "could put significant additional pressure on hospitals and other health and care services" at the "peak pressure" of winter.
“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.”
Meanwhile in Wales, First Minister Mark Drakeford also sounded the alarm over the new Covid strain, telling reporters at a briefing that restrictions would be reviewed weekly.
The Department for Health said on Thursday there had been 50,867 new Covid infections and fears for the NHS are growing.
The Prime Minister announced on Wednesday that England would move to Plan B restrictions, with people told to work from home as of Monday.
The ramping up of Covid curbs also means more mandated mask-wearing and next week MPs will vote on a Covid pass scheme for some venues.
But the Prime Minister's authority has been damaged over the lockdown-breaking Christmas bash in No10 last December - first revealed by the Mirror.
On Thursday night it emerged his communications director Jack Doyle gave a thank-you speech at the event and handed staff spoof awards.
Tory backbenchers are also threatening a major rebellion over the Covid pass plan while Labour has said the PM is "not fit to lead" the country as the pandemic rages.
Asked if people in England should cancel their Christmas parties too, Mr Johnson's spokesman said on Friday: "Under Plan B, we're not shutting hospitality. The use of certification enables a number of venues to remain open when otherwise we would have had to close them for public health reasons as we have had to do previously.
"We understand fully the impact that these measures have had on hospitality in the past and certification allows them to remain trading.
"We do not think there is a need to cancel people coming together in hospitality venues."
