Deputy First Minister John Swinney is warning Omicron is “galloping through Scotland” and says the Scottish Government us currently considering whether to tighten up coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas.
Mr Swinney, who is also the government’s Covid-19 recovery secretary, says people should not dismiss the Omicron variant as mild, warning the increasing case numbers could “overwhelm” the NHS.
This comes after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned Scotland faces a “tsunami of infection” caused by the Omicron variant.
Omicron is now responsible for 18% of all positive coronavirus results, compared to just 2% last week.
Do not trivialise Omicron as mild
Speaking on The Sunday Show, Mr Swinney said: “We face a serious threat because Omicron is galloping through Scotland and circulating around our communities.
“We need to prepare for all scenarios and take action which is appropriate.
“If we take quick and early action, we have the best chance of suppressing this virus and it gives us the opportunity to avoid restrictions and a damaging impact on public health.”
He added: “The idea this is a mild variant of the virus to me is quite irrelevant at the moment.
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“If cases rise exponentially, and as we fear very, very quickly, it doesn’t matter how mild it is, it will result in substantial levels of illness and hospitalisation.
“A small level of hospitalisations from a very big number of infections will overwhelm the NHS.
“That is the blunt reality and I would counsel against the idea we can trivialise it.”
‘Very sorry’ about anxiety caused
Mr Swinney adds the government is still looking at whether or not to tighten up the coronavirus restrictions, which could range from expanding the vaccine certification scheme to introducing more lockdown measures.
He added: “I am very sorry about the anxiety people face and I wish I could take it away.
“But unfortunately Omicron is literally galloping through Scotland.
“Essentially the options available to us fall into three categories.
“One is to speed up the vaccination programme and encourage anyone who is not vaccinated to get vaccinated.
“Second is looking at can the vaccine certification scheme be expanded – we have raised that in the past.
“And thirdly we have the restrictions people are familiar with, but that is the last thing we want to do because it prohibits people from doing what they need to do.”
He adds the cabinet will be meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss if any more restrictions need to be brought in, and says the first minister will update MSPs on their decisions that afternoon in Holyrood.
Closing schools the ‘last thing’ to do
However Mr Swinney says closing schools early is the “last thing” the Scottish Government wants to do.
This comes after the EIS teaching union urged the government to close schools a week earlier than planned for the festive break in a bid to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.
Mr Swinney said: “We have made clear we want to maintain education.
“That is the last thing we want to close.
“We want to maintain school education because young people have suffered so much interruption to their education.”