Nicola Sturgeon to outline Covid rule changes as Omicron takes hold

Nicola Sturgeon will today urge Scottish households to curb mixing ahead of Christmas.

According to reports, the First Minister’s statement to parliament will not include any expansion of the vaccine passport theme but instead see a return to some form of social distancing. 

Members of the cabinet are meeting this morning with changes to be signed off ahead of the Holyrood statement this afternoon. 

The First Minister has already ruled out plans to bring forward the school Christmas holidays, despite the protests of teachers. 

Scotland’s national clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, said public health experts are “very, very reluctant to close schools”.

He said: “Not everybody is well protected in an educational and societal sense at home, so closing schools it has implications for feeding children, it has implications for educating children, it has implications for child protection. So public health advisors at all costs want to keep schools open.”

On Monday, health secretary Humza Yousaf said it was "inevitable we will announce additional protective measures."

He said the First Minister would announce "preventive measures". 

The First Minister has said any will address MSPs at 2.15pm.