Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed a change to the rules on self-isolating in the face of the "renewed and very severe challenge" posed by the new omicron variant.
The First Minister has urged that, from tomorrow (Saturday, December 11), all household contacts of any new confirmed covid case should isolate at home for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status - and even if they initially get a negative PCR test.
Doing so, she said, is a step that the Scottish Government believes "to be essential at this moment to help slow transmission".
Non-household contacts of people who test positive for Covid-19 should also isolate pending a PCR result, and should only leave isolation on receipt of a negative result - as long as they are double vaccinated.
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Speaking at a covid briefing on the new variant this afternoon, she said: "Given that omicron is now becoming dominant, our response to it has to become more general. It will quickly be the case that most people who have covid have the omicron variant. And we must do all we can to break transmission chains.
"Therefore, from tomorrow, our advice will be that all household contacts of any confirmed covid case should isolate for 10 days, regardless of vaccination status, and even if they initially get a negative PCR test."
At the briefing, Ms Sturgeon also warned that Scotland may be facing, or already starting to experience "a potential tsunami of covid infections" due to the greater and faster transmissibility of omicron.
5,018 positive covid cases were reported in Scotland yesterday, which the First Minister says "underlines our fear that a new wave may indeed be starting."
She added that as a result of the 'exponential rise' in omicron cases, the Scottish Government "can't rule out further measures" to come.
