More restrictions in Scotland inevitable, Health Secretary warns
Humza Yousaf said there will be more restrictions, in response to the increasing spread of the Omicron variant in Scotland.
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Your support makes all the difference.Further coronavirus restrictions are now inevitable, Scotland’s Health Secretary has said.
Patients waiting for operations could also face longer delays and postponements, as medical staff are being redeployed to help deliver booster vaccines.
Humza Yousaf said a new target to offer boosters to all eligible adults by the end of the year will be “extremely challenging” and the Scottish Government would be asking for more help from the military to scale up the vaccination programme.
I think it's inevitable that we will announce additional protective measures
Asked about more restrictions in response to the Omicron outbreak, Mr Yousaf told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I think it’s inevitable that we will announce additional protective measures.”
It is the strongest indication that additional measures will be introduced, and follows comments by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney that ministers were going to consider reimposing more restrictions, over the weekend.
Changes to the current coronavirus rules will be announced at Holyrood on Tuesday, Mr Yousaf added.
Speaking about the impact on the health service of speeding up the vaccine booster rollout, Mr Yousaf said: “We’re going to have to strain every sinew that we possibly can in order to ensure we meet (the target).
“That includes potentially having to move NHS staff away from other core duties to do this.”
He added that there needs to be a “huge increase” in the number of daily doses being administered from the current level of approximately 40,000 to an estimated 70,000 per day.
Mr Yousaf also said the Scottish Government wanted “as much support from the Treasury” as possible after warning “already there has been an impact on businesses through some of the advice that has been issued”.
Public Health Scotland last week urged people to postpone Christmas parties because of the increase in Omicron cases across the country, although hospitality industry groups said the advice was a “heavy, heavy blow”.