Nicola Sturgeon has asked people not to mix with more than three households before Christmas to curb the rise in the omicron Covid variant.

The First Minister revealed the advice, she said was necessary, while the vaccination programme was being speeded up.

Sturgeon  revealed new rules and new advice and said the "hardest request" she was making is "of the general public".

She said: "I'm not asking you to cancel Christmas."

Instead, she said she was "asking everyone to reduce contact with people in other households".

She said: "We are not banning or restricting household mixing in law but we are asking everyone to cut down the number outside your own households.

"Please minimise mixing as much as you can."

Ms Sturgeon said she was asking people to limit the number of households to a maximum of three.

She said: "So my key request today is this - before and immediately after Christmas, please minimise your social mixing with other households as much as you can.

"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."

Sturgeon said: "We are not proposing limits on the number of people in households on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day."

She said: "We want to keep businesses open.

"We will amend regulations to make it a legal requirement to minimise the risk of transmission."

Retail will see a return to the protections at the start of the pandemic to avoid crowding, with physical distancing and protective screens.

For hospitality it means distancing measures to avoid crowding at bars and between tables.

The First Minister said "I'm appealing to everyone to follow today's advice. We do not do this lightly."

She said: "Some are suggesting omicron is milder, we hope that's the case but we don't yet know if that's the case.

"But the challenge it poses will still be significant

She said Delta had a 2% rate in hospital with 400 people in hospital a week

She said: "If cases rise to 10,000 a day with Omicron, even at a 1% rate, we would see 700 in hospital a week."

She added: "We must take omicron seriously"

 

Daily Statistics

There were 3177 new positive cases recorded yesterday.

There were 541 in hospital, down by 20 and there were 2 omicron cases in hospital.

There were 38 patients in intensive care, down 1.

There were 6 deaths, taking the total to 9725.

 

Omicron

Sturgeon said: "It is spreading very rapidly in Scotland.  It is growing faster than any variant that has gone before.

"It was in 4% of cases last week, today it is 27.5% and doubling time 2-3 days."