Nicola Sturgeon today announced new guidance and rules designed to ensure that Scots enjoy Christmas celebrations ‘safely’ amid the Omicron threat.
The Scottish Government has so far reported 296 confirmed cases of the highly mutated strain of Covid - but the actual figure is said to be much higher.
Omicron has also caused concern among the global scientific community.Early studies have shown that the effectiveness of two doses of the coronavirus vaccines may drop when it comes up against an Omicron infection.The First Minister has said that the emergence of the variant in Scotland is behind a recent surge in Covid cases.It is believed that the reproduction rate - which is also known as the R number - of the variant could be as high as