New legal restrictions on businesses to help control the spread of Covid-19 have taken effect in Scotland.

Firms are now legally required to take measures to minimise transmission amid concerns about the Omicron variant.

Shops and hospitality outlets have to work to reduce crowding and queueing, erect screens and barriers, and enforce the wearing of face masks.

Scottish ministers have offered £100m of support to firms, and called on the UK government to provide more funds.

Speaking at a COVID-19 briefing earlier this afternoon, the First Minister confirmed that the Omicron variant has now replaced Delta as the dominant form of the virus in Scotland, responsible for 51% of the cases recorded across the country on Friday.

The “tsunami” of cases the first minister warned about last week was now beginning to happen, she told the briefing.

Ms. Sturgeon said the recent increase in cases was expected to “continue and accelerate”, adding: “As of now the scale and the immediacy of the challenge it presents is of profound concern.”

The FM urged the public to stay at home as much as possible in the lead-up to Christmas and reiterated that if you are having a gathering to keep it to no more than three households at a time.

To date, more than half of Scotland’s population over the age of 18 has now had a booster jab.

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