New Scottish restrictions from 26 December - BBC News
Nicola Sturgeon says Hogmanay events will "not proceed" and sporting fixtures, including football matches, will be "effectively spectator-free" for the next three weeks.
Public health experts will say it is easier to pull back if things turn out to be better than expected, rather than to delay and it be too late. It's all because of the lag in the emergence of true data.

With a new variant in the mix, it can be confusing at this point in time. What is clear is that Omicron cases in Scotland are rising. The data on hospitalisations and deaths takes a few more weeks to emerge, so what we see today is primarily a picture of the Delta variant.

The information on that is good: despite thousands of cases a day, the numbers in hospital and deaths have been falling. That’s down to booster jags providing protection against serious disease.

But as Omicron becomes dominant, what we desperately want is to be able to look into the future: does the new variant cause severe illness? How well will boosters hold up? Will hospitals cope?

Scotland is doing really well on boosters. 59% of those eligible have had one, more than 90% of those aged over 65. There is also some evidence that people are already limiting contacts and prioritising some social interactions over others.

But modellers say that even with a 20% decline in transmission, Omicron would have to be much milder than Delta to avoid a spike in hospital admissions. The government hopes these new measures after Christmas will help dampen the impact at the most difficult time of year for the health service.

The more resources the NHS has to dedicate to Covid, the less available for all the other care it has to deliver.