Volunteers at the British Red Cross (BRC) have been called to join the fight against Covid as the first Omicron death in the UK was confirmed.
Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP) has requested the support of volunteers to help with the distribution of vaccines and test-kits across Aberdeen.
The organisation is urging people to offer their assistance with managing queues at the Aberdeen vaccination centre and handing out test kits at various pop-up venues.
The activity will be managed by ACHSCP in partnership with BRC and will provide day, evening and weekend shifts, depending on the volunteers’ availability.
A text message has now been sent out to Aberdeen residents to encourage more to join the frontline team as the country braces to face a “potential tsunami” of Omicron variant infections.
People have been asked to reply to the message with “Yes” and add their preferences on where they would like to offer their support.
Efforts to halt spread of Omicron in Scotland
The plea for help comes after Scotland recorded more than 3,750 new cases of Covid in the last 24 hours.
There have been no deaths linked to the newly identified variant in Scotland, however Prime Minister Boris Johnson today confirmed the first Omicron death in England.
Just hours after Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf admitted restrictions were “inevitable”, the latest data also showed the country’s case positivity rate is again on the rise at 11.8%.
In effort to curb the spread of Omicron within communities, the government has now accelerated the roll-out of the booster vaccination programme.
From today, anyone between the ages of 30 and 39 will be eligible to book their booster jab, with the portal expected to be open for 18 to 29-year-olds as well later in the week.
A number of drop-in clinics offering Covid booster appointments have also been launched in Aberdeenshire to speed up the distribution of the vaccine.
The clinics involved in the Covid booster drop-ins are in Huntly, Banchory, Stonehaven, Macduff, Fraserburgh, and Peterhead, all of which are open Monday to Friday.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is due to address parliament and the public tomorrow on any new restrictions that will be imposed after scrutinising the data.