Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to limit socialising to maximum of three households

‘Please do not think of it as optional,’ says first minister on ‘strong’ new guidance

Nicola Sturgeon has asked people in Scotland to limit their socialising to three households before and after Christmas to help combat the spread of the omicron Covid variant.

Scotland’s first minister stressed she was not introducing legal rules at this stage – but urged Scots to mix with only two other households, at home or in indoor public places, on either side of the festive holiday.

“I am not asking anyone to cancel Christmas,” Ms Sturgeon said on Tuesday. “We are asking that you limit the number of households represented in your group to a maximum of three.”

Setting out the new guidance north of the border, the SNP leader insisted that she was not asking Scots to cancel their Christmas Day, Christmas Eve or Boxing Day plans. “And we are not proposing limits on the size of household gatherings,” she added.

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

She added: “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.”

Although she said the Scottish government’s “strong guidance” on household mixing was not legally enforceable at this stage, Ms Sturgeon warned: “Please do not think of it as optional.”

Ms Sturgeon also announced that allowing staff to work from home where possible will again become a legal duty on employers in Scotland.

Other new measures taken by the Scottish government to tackle the spread of omicron mean businesses must “return to the kind of protections in place at the start of the pandemic”, said the first minister.

Shops in Scotland will have to enforce social distancing and put up protective screens under renewed legal requirements. Pubs, bars and restaurants will also have to take measures to avoid crowding, and make sure customers’ details are taken for contact tracing.

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 ready to booster jabs, the first minister said “additional capacity” would be operational “over the next few days”.

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs omicron cases are “increasing exponentially – faster than any variant that has gone before it”, as Scotland has recorded 110 confirmed new cases of the variant in the past 24 hours, taking the overall number to 296.

New measures in Scotland come as Downing Street insisted that no further Covid curbs were being planned in England.

Boris Johnson warned a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he believes a “huge spike” of cases of the variant will hit the nation, while England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned ministers to brace for a “significant increase in hospitalisations” from omicron.

No 10 did not reject a suggestion that new Omicron cases could hit a million per day next week based on a “valid” estimate from the UK Health Security Agency that daily infections are currently around 200,000.

Downing Street said that the prime minister has no plans to follow Ms Sturgeon’s lead and advise people in England to restrict household mixing over Christmas.

“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 use ventilation and to use good hand hygiene,” said the PM’s official spokesperson.

“That is the advice that we give to the public at this time and that hasn’t changed. There are no plans to change what we have set out.

“We are carefully monitoring the latest evidence that has been gathered, both here and around the world, on the omicron variant, should it require further changes.”