FURTHER coronavirus restrictions are now inevitable, Scotland’s Health Secretary has said.
Patients waiting for operations could also face longer delays and postponements, as medical staff are being redeployed to help deliver booster vaccines.
Humza Yousaf said a new target to offer boosters to all eligible adults by the end of the year will be “extremely challenging” and the Scottish Government would be asking for more help from the military to scale up the vaccination programme.
Asked about more restrictions in response to the Omicron outbreak, Yousaf told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I think it’s inevitable that we will announce additional protective measures.”
READ MORE: Scottish Covid rules: John Swinney quizzed on incoming Omicron restrictions
It is the strongest indication that additional measures will be introduced, and follows comments by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney that ministers were going to consider reimposing more restrictions, over the weekend.
Changes to the current coronavirus rules will be announced at Holyrood on Tuesday, Yousaf added.
Speaking about the impact on the health service of speeding up the vaccine booster rollout, Yousaf said: “We’re going to have to strain every sinew that we possibly can in order to ensure we meet (the target).
“That includes potentially having to move NHS staff away from other core duties to do this.”
READ MORE: Covid Scotland: Aims to offer boosters to all adults by end of 2021
He added that there needs to be a “huge increase” in the number of daily doses being administered from the current level of approximately 40,000 to an estimated 70,000 per day.
Yousaf also said the Scottish Government wanted “as much support from the Treasury” as possible after warning “already there has been an impact on businesses through some of the advice that has been issued”.
Public Health Scotland last week urged people to postpone Christmas parties because of the increase in Omicron cases across the country, although hospitality industry groups said the advice was a “heavy, heavy blow”.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel