Scotland Covid rules explained: Nicola Sturgeon announces new guidance

Scots told to limit mixing households and socially distance in pubs and shops

Scotland’s first minister has urged people to reduce the number of households they mix with either side of Christmas in a bid to stop the spread of the omicron Covid variant.

Nicola Sturgeon insisted she was “not asking anyone to cancel” their holiday plans, but instead asking people to limit their social contact time in the run-up to 25 December – and in the days afterwards.

This is because cases of the highly transmissible variant are “increasing exponentially – faster than any variant that has gone before it”, she told MSPs at Holyrood on Tuesday.

While the new guidance will not be made law, the SNP leader advised Scots to follow it as though it was mandatory.

Scotland has recorded 110 confirmed new cases of omicron in the past 24 hours, taking the country’s total to 296, new figures show. The UK as a whole has so far reported more than 4,700 cases of the variant.

The same data published by the Scottish government on Tuesday showed that there were 3,117 additional Covid cases in the country, as well as six deaths.

So, what are the new rules announced by Sturgeon?

In her statement, the first minister urged Scots to limit their socialising to three households – meaning one house should meet with two others – before and after the Christmas period.

“My key request today is this: before and immediately after Christmas, please minimise your social mixing with other households as much as you can,” Ms Sturgeon said in the Scottish parliament.

“However, if you do plan on socialising, either at home or in indoor public places, we are asking that you limit the number of households represented in your group to a maximum of three. And make sure you test before you go.”

Stressing that the new guidance does not mean Christmas is cancelled in Scotland, she added: “Turning to Christmas Day specifically, or Christmas Eve or Boxing Day or whenever you have your main family celebration, we are not asking you to cancel or change your plans, and we are not proposing limits on the size of household gatherings.”

While the advice to limit social contact amid households will not be drafted into law, Ms Sturgeon warned the public: “Please do not think of it as optional.”

She also said that allowing staff to work from home where possible will again become a legal duty on employers, as will a requirement to avoid excessive crowding in spaces such as pubs, bars, shops and restaurants. Plus, customers’ details will once again need to be taken for contact tracing purposes.

What else did the first minister say?

On the vaccine booster scheme, Ms Sturgeon said all over-18s in Scotland should be able to book appointments online from Wednesday – but the first minister said she could not guarantee all adults would be able to be vaccinated by the new year.

Challenged by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar when mass vaccination centres would be ready to offer booster jabs, Ms Sturgeon said “additional capacity” would be operational “over the next few days”.

“Just as vaccines started to win this race, the virus learned to run faster. That means we must deliver boosters even faster,” she told MSPs.

“This is all the more important in light of early data telling us that the protection we have against omicron infection with just one or two doses is significantly lower than it is for delta – we need a booster jab to ensure a substantial level of protection against omicron.”

Taking the opportunity to criticise Boris Johnson’s government as she spoke, the first minister said that she would have liked to introduce further restrictions but that “our public health response is curtailed by lack of finance”.

Ms Sturgeon argued it was “not acceptable” that there was no additional funding yet available from the UK government to support businesses affected, telling those at Holyrood: “There are further steps we could and would have considered today, particularly around hospitality, had we the financial ability to do so. But we don’t.”

Asked afterwards if Mr Johnson was considering following in his Scottish counterpart’s footsteps, the prime minister’s official spokesman stopped short of telling people in England to limit social interactions.

Instead, he said: “We would urge people who are going to be seeing loved ones or spending time otherwise indoors with people, particularly those who might be more vulnerable to this, to get tested beforehand, to access testing, to use ventilation, to use good hand respiratory hygiene, wash your hands, and that is the advice that we give to the public at this time.”