Nicola Sturgeon has issued a stark warning this afternoon as the new omicron variant of coronavirus spreads across Scotland.
Describing the situation as 'a potential tsunami of infections', the First Minister issued an update on the latest figures and cautioned that the Omicron variant has a 'far greater and faster transmissibility' than the delta strain of the virus.
She said at her briefing this afternoon: "The fact is we face a renewed and very severe challenge in the face of the new omicron variant."
"In relation to the omicron variant specifically, as of 5pm yesterday, there were 110 confirmed cases in Scotland.
"What we are seeing in the data just now is perhaps the fastest exponential growth that we’ve seen in the pandemic so far.
"Indeed, our estimate at this stage is that the doubling time for omicron cases is between two and three days. It may be closer to two days than three days.
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"We can now say with some confidence that we expect it to overtake delta within days, not weeks - we estimate this will be as early as the beginning of next week."
The First Minister referred to the Scottish Government preparing for a 'potential tsunami of covid infections' due to greater transmission of the omicron variant.
The FM added that the R number associated with omicron is likely to be well over two, closer to three, and warned that the new strain is more capable of infecting people who have previously been infected.
She added that the omicron strain also appears to be having an impact on the effectiveness of vaccines: "The best evidence suggests it can evade to some extent the immunity conferred by vaccinations.
That does not mean vaccines will not significantly help us. Being less effective is not the same - nowhere near the same - as vaccines being ineffective."
"And booster doses, in particular, will help retain a higher level of vaccine efficiency. So getting your vaccines remains absolutely crucial. The thing we don’t yet know is whether omicron causes more or less serious illness than the delta variant."
