PEOPLE are being urged to informally “Covid certify” themselves before attending events and family gatherings this Christmas as Scotland reported another case of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Ten cases of the variant have now been found in Scotland, the UK Health Security Agency said on Wednesday, and its chief executive Dr Jenny Harries said it is “very likely that we will find more cases over the coming days”.
The lab-confirmed Omicron infection was just one of 2796 new Covid cases reported within the past 24 hours.
Nineteen new deaths of people with the virus were reported on Wednesday, the Scottish Government said, and 54 people were in intensive care with a recently confirmed case of Covid-19.
Professor Jason Leitch (below), Scotland’s national clinical director, said people should do a “version of Covid certification” without the law telling them to, by taking a lateral flow device (LFD) test and ensuring they are vaccinated before they socialise.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she is not asking people to put Christmas plans on hold at the moment following the emergence of the Omicron variant, but she urged Scots to take an LFD test before mixing with other households.
Prof Leitch told Times Radio: “Our tone is, if you are going to meet people outside your household, test.
“We should all have a version of Covid certification without the law telling us to Covid certify.
“I’m going to have Christmas dinner with my sister and her husband and my mum and dad.
“I’m not going to check their certificate at the door before my mum comes for turkey, but she is 81 and she will do a Covid test, she will do a lateral flow test before she comes, she’s had her booster and I can be as certain as I can that the environment I’m bringing her into is as safe as I can make it.
READ MORE: Scottish Government confirms when all over-18s can expect to get their booster vaccine
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have Christmas dinner and we’re not going to have a fun day, but she will Covid certify before she comes.
“I’m not going to QR scan her at the door, but if we can all think in those terms.”
The latest Scottish Government statistics show 702 people are in hospital with a recently confirmed case of Covid-19.
Of 37,518 tests carried out in the country, 7.9% were positive.
A total of 4,347,880 people have received their first vaccine dose, 3,951,364 their second, and 1,722,225 have had a third.
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