Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned of a “potential tsunami of infections” in the face of the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
She said the virulent new strain will “run riot” through the wider population as she cautioned the reproduction or R number could rise above 2, meaning it was growing exponentially.
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Ms Sturgeon said household contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases would have to self-isolate for 10 days regardless of vaccine status or negative test results, and urged people to reconsider holding Christmas parties.
Giving a news update, she said: “The fact is that we do face a renewed and a very severe challenge in the face of the new Omicron variant.
“To be blunt because of the much greater and faster transmissibility of this new variant we may be facing, indeed we may be starting to experience a potential tsunami of infections.”
She added: “This a variant that is and is going to – forgive the non-technical language – run riot through not just the Scottish population.”
It was likely Omicron would become the dominant variant of COVID-19 in Scotland in “days, not weeks”, said Ms Sturgeon.
She said: “Omicron right now is rising exponentially, indeed what we are seeing in the data just now is perhaps the fastest exponential growth that we have seen in this pandemic so far.”
She added: “If that continues, and we have no reason, at this stage, to believe that it won’t, Omicron is going to very quickly overtake Delta as the dominant strain in Scotland.
“Indeed, I think we can now say with some confidence that we expect it to overtake Delta within days, not weeks – we estimate this could be as early as the very beginning of next week.
She stressed that, although evidence suggested the variant could evade evade some immunity provided by vaccines, people should still get jabbed.
She said: “Based on preliminary laboratory trials, the best evidence suggests it can evade to some extent the immunity conferred by vaccination.
“Now, and I want to triple underline this point, that does not mean that the vaccines will not significantly help us – being less effective is not the same, nowhere near the same as vaccines being ineffective and booster doses in particular will help retain a higher level of vaccine efficiency.”
Even if the Omicron variant is less severe, a “massive number of cases” may still need hospital care, Ms Sturgeon has said.
She pointed out “a smaller percentage of a bigger number will still result in a massive number of cases who might need hospital care”.
She added: “Given the volume of people who could be infected by Omicron because of its greater transmissibility, even if most of those cases are mild, the number of cases of serious illness will put massive strain on the ability of the NHS to cope.”
A “significant strain” will also be put on the economy given the number of people who would be required to self isolate as a result of the transmissibility of the new variant, she added.
She also could not rule out further restrictions in Scotland being put in place.
She said: “We know that any additional protective measures will cause social and economic harms especially after almost two years of this pandemic.
“But we also know from past experience that early action is often needed when dealing with this virus – in fact acting early is often the best way of acting proportionately.
“So we can’t rule out further measures and I’m afraid we can’t avoid the advice that I have shared with you today.
“I’ll continue to do all I can to be upfront and open with you in the days ahead and I continue to be so grateful for the responsibility the vast majority of people across the population are showing.”