Thread by @theSNP

📺 Watch @NicolaSturgeon's statement on the latest COVID situation in Scotland, before answering questions from MSPs at #FMQs.

⏰ Tune in now on scottishparliament.tv or follow this thread for live updates.

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "5,951 cases were reported yesterday - 45.4% of cases now show the S-Gene dropout, indicative of Omicron.

It therefore seems likely that by tomorrow, Omicron will be the dominant strain circulating in Scotland."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Because of Omicron's much higher transmissibility, this will drive an even more rapid increase in cases.

Omicron is spreading exceptionally fast, much faster than anything experienced in this pandemic."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "I am profoundly concerned by the scale and immediacy of the challenge Omicron poses."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "In response, we are already rapidly accelerating delivery of boosters - and will continue to do so.

59,437 booster or third doses were administered yesterday - a further increase on the day before."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We must understand that Omicron is currently running faster than even the fastest roll out of vaccines - and also, a key point, that the immune protection from vaccination is not immediate."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "So as we speed up vaccines, we must also act to slow the virus down.

If we don’t, the consequences will be significant."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Even if Omicron’s impact on individual health is milder than other variants - and we have no evidence of that yet - many will still become severely unwell and die, and the sheer number of people infected will present a massive challenge."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "In London, where transmission of Omicron is currently the highest in the UK, hospital admissions are now rising sharply.

If we don’t act now, what we have feared all along but so far avoided - the overwhelming of the NHS - could happen."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Let me be clear, this is not a choice between protecting health and protecting the economy.

A surge in infections will cause - is already causing - staff absences that will also cripple the economy and critical services."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "This is a serious situation and we must respond accordingly.

I therefore want to strongly underline the advice I gave on Tuesday."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Please reduce your contact with people from households other than your own as much as you possibly can.

For now, please stay at home much more than you normally would."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Right now, the risk of getting Covid from interactions with others is high and rising.

So ask yourself before doing anything you might have planned over the coming days - is it as safe as it needs to be, and is it vital enough to justify that risk."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "I suspect what is most important to most of us over the next couple of weeks is having time with our families at Christmas.

Every interaction we have before then increases the risk of us getting Covid and losing that."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "More generally, I suspect what matters most to us - I know this is my view - is protecting children’s education.

So by acting to reduce community transmission, we will also help keep schools open safely."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Given what I am being advised about the risk Omicron poses to health and the economy, I would not be fulfilling my duty if I failed to give this advice.

I would not be acting in good conscience."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "However, I am acutely aware of, and deeply concerned about, the considerable impact of this advice on businesses - although let me repeat, businesses will also suffer if we don’t act to slow the virus."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "The fact is - business now needs the type and scale of financial support that was available earlier in the pandemic."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "However, there are simply no mechanisms available to the devolved administrations to trigger the finance needed to support such schemes.

We need the UK government to act - urgently and in the way some other countries are already doing."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "I made this point again at a COBRA meeting yesterday, chaired by Michael Gove and attended by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

But this now needs the urgent engagement of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We must not sleepwalk into an emergency that, for both health and business, will be much greater as a result of inaction, than it will be if we act firmly and strongly now."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "I have therefore written to the Prime Minister this morning appealing to him to put the necessary support schemes in place.

Such is the urgency, I have asked to speak to him directly later today."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "None of us want to be in this position but Omicron presents a renewed and very real challenge for the whole world.

The World Health Organisation could not be clearer about that."

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Once again, the duty to protect the NHS, lives and livelihoods must be uppermost in our minds and drive our actions.

All of us - governments and citizens - must do what is required.

Please play your part by following the advice we are giving."

@NicolaSturgeon 📣 @NicolaSturgeon to Douglas Ross: "We need to speed up vaccinations, but while we are doing that, we must also act to slow down the virus.

It's a simple statement of fact and the protection of health, lives, but also the economy and businesses, depends on us doing that." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Scotland became the first part of the UK yesterday to pass 50% of over-18s vaccinated with a booster.

We still have the fastest vaccination programme in the UK and we are picking up pace every day." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "One of the things we are doing, which is the most important thing right now and there is still capacity to be got from this, is shifting focus from the remainder of the flu vaccination campaign into boosters." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We are now facing, two years into this pandemic, a variant of the virus that is spreading faster than anything we have experienced so far.

Omicron is doubling every 2-3 days in Scotland, in parts of the UK the doubling time is less than 2 days." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "Omicron has an R number that some assessments estimate to be above 4.

We do not have time to waste on putting in place the protective measures that will help slow this down.

Lives again are at risk here, livelihoods are at risk and the NHS is at risk." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "That's why the government is speeding up vaccination, but all of us have to come together to do what's required to slow this down.

And the UK government has to step up and provide the financial support that businesses need." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "For goodness sake, we have a virus raging around this country, we're trying to act at speed to protect people as much as possible, because it's our duty.

And I take that duty, whether people disagree or agree with me, very seriously to protect people and the country." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "I think that what businesses want, and what businesses need, more than anything right now, is for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at his desk, putting the financial support schemes in place that will stop them going to the wall." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "If we act, that has implications for businesses - they must be compensated.

But if we don't act, that possibly has even bigger implications for businesses.

I take my responsibilities very seriously and I hope to speak to the PM today, if he makes himself available." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We will get the £100m, that with great difficulty we have managed to find from other budgets, as quickly as we can to businesses." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "When I last stood in this chamber, we heard the Treasury was going to give us additional money.

What we now know is that we are poorer after that Treasury announcement, than we thought we were before." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We'll get the money to businesses as quickly as possible, but a £100m is not enough - which is why we need the Chancellor and the Prime Minister to do their jobs, and to put proper financial support for businesses in place - as quickly as possible." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We've had the Delta variant set back the ability of the NHS to recover, and now we have Omicron - health services all over the world are struggling to get back to normal because of the continued and increasing pressure that the virus is placing on us." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "But we have invested, and continue to invest, in the Detect Cancer Early programme - the earlier we detect cancer, the more able our NHS is to save lives.

We've also recently established the first 3 early cancer diagnostic centres." #FMQs

@NicolaSturgeon FM: "We will get the NHS more firmly onto the road to recovery, the more able we are to bear down on the Covid cases.

That comes back to the central point - please cut down your contacts, so that we're avoiding any opportunity that we can for this virus to spread." #FMQs