Sturgeon ramps up orders for Scots to work from home: SNP leader tells businesses that all staff who were kept out of the office in the first lockdown should stay away again until at least mid-January

 Nicola Sturgeon today ramped up work from home orders for Scots - demanding businesses make sure people stay away from offices.

The First Minister delivered the tough message as she updated MSPs on the threat from the Omicron variant. 

Amid fears that the mutant strain is on track to sweep the country within weeks, Ms Sturgeon insisted that none of the current restrictions north of the border will be eased before Christmas.

Making clear that included the instruction to work from home where possible, the SNP leader said: 'I know this is difficult, but I cannot stress enough how much difference we think this could make in helping stem transmission and avoid the need for even more onerous measures.'

In a direct call to employers, Ms Sturgeon said that 'if you had staff working from home at this start of the pandemic, please now enable them to do so again'.  

delivered the tough message as she gave updated MSPs on the threat from Omicron

delivered the tough message as she gave updated MSPs on the threat from Omicron

In total, there are 46,000 Covid cases on average each day in the UK and data from the Covid Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) suggests the new strain is already behind around one in 66 of them, or 1.4 per cent

In total, there are 46,000 Covid cases on average each day in the UK and data from the Covid Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) suggests the new strain is already behind around one in 66 of them, or 1.4 per cent

Johnson tells Cabinet Omicron IS 'more transmissible' than Delta 

Boris Johnson today told ministers that the Omicron Covid variant appears to be even more transmissible than Delta, raising fresh doubts about Christmas freedoms.

Updating his Cabinet on the latest situation this morning, the Prime Minister admitted it was too early to tell if the super-mutant strain was indeed worse but 'early indications' pointed in that direction.

Ministers did not debate resorting to No10's Plan B strategy of working from home and vaccine passports, despite grim warnings about the threat of facing Britain in the coming weeks.

Recounting the weekly Downing Street meeting however, the PM's official spokesman did insist the Government would act 'swiftly' if needed, once again dangling the possibility of another festive lockdown if Omicron continues to spiral.

It comes after top epidemiologist Professor Tim Spector, from King's College London, claimed cases of the highly-evolved variant were doubling every two days, faster than initially feared.

Dr Jeffrey Barrett, head of Covid surveillance at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said Omicron was likely to become the UK dominant strain 'within a matter of weeks' rather than months like initially hoped. Scientists predicted just yesterday that it would take until mid-January for Omicron to outpace Delta.

The variant is now spreading domestically in multiple regions, with the official count today seeing its biggest raw jump today to 437. Separate data shows the strain is thought to make up one in 60 of all cases, with infections in the home nations starting to tick upwards.

But real-world data suggests the variant may be milder than other strains. None of the recorded cases in the UK – which are just a fraction of the true toll – have been hospitalised, Health Secretary Sajid Javid revealed last night, mirroring reports from doctors in the ground zero of the outbreak in South Africa.  vbvcgvcfg

Ms Sturgeon also urged Scots to follow rules around testing and self-isolation should they have symptoms, as well as regular lateral flow testing.

'I am not excluding myself from this,' she said.

'I am currently doing a test every morning before coming to work and I will do a test on any occasion I mix with others over the festive period. I will ask anyone visiting my home over Christmas to do likewise.'

Ms Sturgeon urged MSPs to 'lead by example' on testing.

The intervention came after  Dominic Raab today insisted the government's coronavirus 'Plan B' for England is still unnecessary despite increasingly grim warnings about the Omicron strain.

The deputy PM struck an optimistic note about Christmas in a round of interviews, saying the tougher restrictions are 'not required' due to the success of the vaccine programme.

The defiant stance came after Theresa May was cheered to the rafters by Tory MPs last night as she accused ministers of putting businesses at risk by 'stopping and starting sectors of our economy'.

The ex-premier said the new mutation appeared to lead to less serious illness and the country must 'learn to live with Covid'. 

However, fresh doubts about the fate of the festive season were raised this morning as experts warned Omicron is spreading faster in the UK than expected.

Eminent epidemiologist Professor Tim Spector claimed infections with the variant were doubling every two days and that there were up to 2,000 cases already — five times more than the official count. 

The King's College London scientist, who runs the country's largest symptom-tracking study, estimated that in 10 days' time Britain will have more Omicron cases than most African countries at the epicentre of the new outbreak.

Dr Jeffrey Barrett, head of Covid surveillance at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said Omicron was likely to become the UK dominant strain 'within a matter of weeks' rather than months like initially hoped.

But Mr Raab today rejected the idea of bringing in more curbs, such as orders to work from home or vaccine passports. 'We don't think Plan B is required,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'Why? Because of the success of the vaccine programme.'

Mr Raab was more definitive than Boris Johnson who yesterday refused to rule out tightening restrictions over the festive period, merely insisting that Christmas will be 'better' than last year.

Scientists expect booster jabs to give high protection against severe illness and death from Omicron, even if the variant makes vaccines much less effective at preventing infection. 

No10 announced last week that it plans to ramp up the booster programme to 500,000 jabs per day and offer a third dose to all 53million British adults by the end of January to shield against the incoming wave. 

But the 'turbocharged' campaign already appears to be stalling with just 290,000 delivered across Britain. And, on average, just 378,000 are being administered each day.

Dominic Raab struck an optimistic note about Christmas in a round of interviews earlier, saying Plan B restrictions are 'not required' in England due to the success of the vaccine programme

Dominic Raab struck an optimistic note about Christmas in a round of interviews earlier, saying Plan B restrictions are 'not required' in England due to the success of the vaccine programme

Nearly EVERY child in England has fallen behind with education due to pandemic 

Nearly every child in England has fallen behind in their education and suffered as a result of the Covid lockdown, a damning Ofsted report warned today.

Chief inspector Amanda Spielman warned that many of the youngest children's progress and development 'faltered' amid the pandemic, with some regressing in basic language and social skills.

Loneliness, boredom and misery became 'endemic' among the young - and the loss of education, disrupted routine - and fewer activities led to physical and mental health problems for many children, she said.

The younger generation should not be 'denied' its chance to enjoy childhood and fulfil its potential in the year ahead, Ms Spielman has urged.

She called on schools to offer pupils sport and extra-curricular activities to ensure children 'regain a sense of normality' in their lives.

Her comments come after the latest Department for Education (DfE) figures show that the number of children and staff off school for Covid-related reasons in England has risen in recent weeks.

Education unions have warned that disruption to schooling is likely to worsen following the emergence of the newly-identified Omicron coronavirus variant.

In Ofsted's annual report, Ms Spielman said the message around the 'harm' that lockdowns cause children - and the importance of in-person schooling - 'needs repeating now'.

'Although many children are necessarily out of school because of Covid or other illness, it is important that they attend every day that they possibly can,' she added.

Ms Sturgeon added that her government is not currently considering a blanket closure of schools in Scotland.

A primary school in Paisley has already been forced to close for a week due to a suspected outbreak of the new Omicron variant of Covid, with some class groups at Todholm Primary now being required to self-isolate.

Scotland now has 99 cases of the new variant - which Ms Sturgeon warned 'may be significantly more transmissible than anything before'.

She spoke out after being pressed on the issue by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross.

He said that while shutting down schools 'may be necessary in extreme circumstances' there had been an agreement between parties earlier in the pandemic that 'children's education must come first and closing schools should only ever be a last resort'.

He called on Ms Sturgeon to confirm if this was still the Government's position and for her to 'say that no plans for school closures on a national basis have been discussed by her cabinet'.

The First Minister told him: 'It is absolutely the case that protecting the education of children remains a top priority. We are not discussing the closure on a national basis of schools.

'Everything that can be done to avoid that will be done by this Government, and that is a really important principle that will drive everything we do.'

But she added achieving that 'means doing some other things that Douglas Ross has opposed time and again' - such as requiring staff and pupils in secondary schools to wear face coverings.

Ms Sturgeon stressed the need for 'sensible mitigations in schools', saying that while 'nobody likes' pupils having to wear them, doing so is 'essential'.

The First Minister added that measures to curb the virus in the community were also necessary, telling MSPs that 'most of the things we have done to try to achieve that have been opposed by the Conservatives'.

The Tories have opposed measures introduced by the Scottish Government, such as vaccine passports, but Ms Sturgeon said ministers must 'continue to take sensible actions, proportionate actions'.

She stated: 'We are again at a really serious juncture of this pandemic and it demands serious government, serious decisions, and certainly doesn't demand opportunistic opposition.'

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