Christmas Day Covid curbs ruled out but Scotland could face Hogmanay lockdown

Nicola Sturgeon is set to rule out Covid restrictions over Christmas Day when she updates MSPs today, but will likely warn that measures will need to be in place towards the New Year. 

Scotland recorded 6,734 new coronavirus cases yesterday, the highest daily figure since September. While across the UK, 102,297 people tested positive for coronavirus, the highest number yet. London, which is the epicentre of the Omicron variant, has seen hospital numbers double in three weeks.

The First Minister warned that the country faced “a challenging situation”.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of her statement to parliament, Sturgeon said: “We’re seeing come to pass what we predicted – cases are rising, the proportion of all cases in Scotland that are now the Omicron variant has been rising as well.

“We’ve also seen people following the advice that we gave last Tuesday and I hope that will be beginning to have a bit of a suppressive effect on infections.”

She added: "Cabinet will look at the data and we will consider – we haven't taken any decisions – whether there are any other steps we need to take, both to slow down the spread of infection and to take account of the fact that because of the rising number of infections we are seeing quite high staff absences across the economy and in public services.”

Boris Johnson has also ruled out curbs over the festive period, delaying a decision to bring in new legislation until after the holiday. 

There’s speculation in this morning’s paper that could involve a two-week “circuit breaker” banning household mixing.

Speaking after a meeting of his cabinet, Johnson said that he would wait until the data was clearer before taking further action. “But we will not exclude going further if we have to to protect the public”.

He added: “In view of the balance of risks and uncertainties, particularly around the infection hospitalisation rate of omicron — how many people does Omicron put into hospital — [and] some other uncertainties to do with severity and booster effectiveness, we agreed we should keep the data from now on under constant review. Keep following it hour by hour.

“Unfortunately I must to say to people we will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public, protect public health and protect our NHS.”

Meanwhile, the Treasury and the Scottish Government clashed yesterday over emergency funding, after the Whitehall department claimed it had “doubled” the amount of cash coming to Edinburgh to help pay for support.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said answers were needed on exactly how much extra cash she is being handed. The minister said the extra £220 million announced by the Treasury was a "rough estimate" based on how much the UK Government thinks it will spend.

“If they ultimately spend less, then we will need to repay the difference," she said.