west of the region. 25 december – restrictions are relaxed for christmas day to allow people to mix indoors and travel more freely. 26 december – mainland scotland moves into level four restrictions. 27 december – the scottish academy of medical royal colleges and faculties warns that the health service could be overwhelmed by any surge of covid cases resulting from the temporary relaxation of rules on christmas day, and suggests the new strain of the virus could create a "perfect storm". 28 december – a further 967 cases of covid-19 take the total in scotland past 120,000 to 120,891. people in dumfries and galloway are urged to stay at home as much as possible after the number of covid cases in the area doubled from 64 to 142 in two days. 29 december – as a further 1,895 new covid cases are reported, the highest number in a single day, first minister nicola sturgeon urges people to stay at home at hogmanay and not mix with others, declaring it to be "vitally important". health officials have said that shetland may be moved into level four restrictions following an outbreak of covid in the area; 34 cases have been reported in the preceding week, with 120 people asked to isolate and cases thus expected to rise. a further 39 covid cases are confirmed in the wigtownshire area of dumfries and galloway, with 171 having been reported since christmas eve, prompting elaine murray, the leader of dumfries and galloway council, to suggest further restrictions may be needed in the area. 30 december – a further 2,045 covid cases are recorded, the highest daily total since mass testing began, with first minister nicola sturgeon describing the variant of concern 202012/01 as "fast becoming the dominant one". first minister nicola sturgeon says that the first doses of the oxford vaccine will be given in scotland on monday 4 january. 31 december – scotland reports a third day of high covid case numbers, with a further 2,622 positive tests recorded. with hogmanay events cancelled for new year 2020–21, people are warned to stay at home.