Thousands of frontline emergency service staff in Scotland are off work due to the omicron covid variant.
Absence rates among police, NHS and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service staff have rocketed amid current isolation rules, the Sunday Mail reports.
The paper has learned that over 1,000 police officers and support staff have been unable to work, which is the highest figure since the height of the pandemic in 2020.
Meanwhile, it's understood a total of 3,285 NHS staff across the country are off – double the numbers from the end of November – while the Scottish Ambulance Service has 243 workers currently absent, which is just over three per cent of its workforce.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said 352 members of staff were off due to Covid out of a workforce of 8,200.
The staffing crisis has led to fresh calls for relaxation of self-isolation rules to cope over the festive period.
Current rules, introduced by Nicola Sturgeon on December 11, means all covid household contacts need to isolate for 10 days, even if they haven’t tested positive.
The UK Government has since reduced it to seven – with the Scottish Government under pressure to do the same as services crumble under staff absences.
New figures from Police Scotland put its Covid absence rate at 887.
But that figure is from December 15, when the covid sickness absence rate doubled within a week, with sources telling the paper it has since increased again.
It previously peaked in April 2020 when over 3,500 of the force’s 23,000 staff were off. The number included all absences, which currently runs to over 2,100.
It comes as Police Scotland faces rising demand on 999 and 101 calls.
Senior officers have warned members of the public they could face a wait.
Sources in the force say they have faced an increasing number of calls to investigate and break up festive parties.
One source told the paper: "Throughout the pandemic, most calls have been from neighbours reporting people for having parties.
"For a large portion of time, it was against the law.
"Now it's just guidance but we are seeing increasing calls again, diverting our resources.
"It's hard to cope with increasing absences added to the mix."
Calum Steele, of the Scottish Police Federation, said: "The critical role of police officers as part of the very fabric of our society has largely been forgotten during this pandemic.
"Omicron may have presented new challenges but the simple truth is poor policy decisions left the police service vulnerable to sickness and absence a long time before this new variant existed.
"Police officers were uniquely asked to put themselves in harm's way without proper PPE or vaccination.
"Omicron should not be considered a get-out-of-jail-free card for those scandalous decisions."
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service deputy chief officer Ross Haggart said: "The safety of our staff and communities we serve is our highest priority.
"We have established protocols and robust contingency plans to ensure we can continue to respond to every emergency."
Scotland's 14 health boards have also reported increasing absences.
An average of 1,650 nurses and midwives were off last week because of covid – the highest rate since March.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it had 1,066 staff across its acute sites who are off due to covid.
Judith Park, of NHS Lanarkshire, warned: "Omicron is having a negative impact on many health services and this pressure is likely to increase in the coming weeks."
Dr Crawford McGuffie, of NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: "An increase in Covid-19 admissions, staff absence and rising emergency attendances has resulted in significant pressures across the system."
Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie said: "Protecting public health is of crucial importance but it is increasingly clear staff absences due to Omicron are hitting emergency services hard.
"Our response to Omicron must be rooted firmly in the evidence but we cannot have our frontline services further depleted.
"Any options to use testing to safely reduce the impact of self-isolation should be considered without delay."
Alex Cole-Hamilton, of the Scottish Lib Dems, said: "I'd like to see the Scottish Government consider whether changes could safely be made that would ease the burden on under-pressure services and workers."
Scottish Conservative Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: "We've been pushing for a change to self-isolation rules because the pressure on essential services and our economy is growing to unbearable levels.
"People who test negative should be able to safely exit self-isolation."
The Scottish Government said it would change self-isolation rules as soon as the public health advice said the benefits of doing so outweighed the risks.
