Omicron is "galloping through Scotland" and should not be dismissed as a mild variant of coronavirus, John Swinney has warned.
The Deputy First Minister said a raft of new measures were being weighed-up by ministers this weekend before Nicola Sturgeon makes a statement to parliament on Tuesday.
Swinney today warned the public not to be complacent about the potential harm caused by the latest strain of covid.
And he defended the language used by the First Minister last week when she claimed Scotland faced a "tsunami of infection".
Omicron was responsible for 18 per cent of positive covid results returned on Saturday - compared to just two per cent the week before.
"The problem we have - and the First Minister made this clear on Friday - is even if there is a small level of hospitalisation caused by a very big number of infections in our society, that will overwhelm our NHS," Swinney told BBC Scotland.
"So I really would counsel against this idea that we can almost trivialize the impact of omicron as it might well be a mild condition."
Asked about the strength of language used by ministers in recent days to describe the possible impact of omicron, Swinney said: "I'm very sorry about the anxiety people face in society and I wish I could take it away.
"Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that omicron is quite literally galloping through Scotland.
"In the space of a week omicron has changed from two per cent of the cases in Scotland to 18 per cent yesterday.
"The doubling rate is just over two days and that compares to earlier variants which were closer to 14 days.
"That's why I think it's appropriate to use language like galloping through Scotland and 'tsunami of infections' - because omicron is coming towards us at a much more aggressive rate and pace than any other previous variant of the virus.
"We have to address that early and swiftly to protect the population."
Asked about what happens next in terms of restrictions, Swinney added: "The options available to us fall into three categories.
"The first is to speed up the vaccination programme and encourage anyone who is not vaccinated to get vaccinated.
"Secondly, we will look at issues above the vaccine certification scheme and whether it can be expanded - there are options we have raised about that in the past.
"Thirdly, there is any form of restrictions that we might put in place and people are familiar with the options that we have.
"But restrictions are the last thing we want to do as that inhibits the ability of businesses to operate as normally as possible."
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour's covid recovery spokeswoman, said: “Businesses up and down the country aren’t just dreading the effects of the new variant, they are already feeling them.
“The latest advice is leading to parties being cancelled and bookings plummeting, but the hospitality industry is being left high and dry.
“Thousands of jobs are on the line but the SNP don’t seem to be listening.
“We should never shy away from difficult decisions to save lives, but we can’t destroy livelihoods in the process.
“Whether there are new restrictions or not, the SNP’s strategy cannot rely on hospitality taking the hit.
“They need to support businesses and protect jobs through this crisis.”
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