THE Government was “absolutely right” to relax coronavirus rules for Christmas day, but there will be a "cost", a top medic has said.

Professor Jackie Taylor, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, predicted non-urgent care will have to be paused in Scotland amid fears the NHS could soon be “overwhelmed”.

Her warning came as the president of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh called for every precaution to be taken to minimise transmission, including telling the public to wear face coverings while meeting others outdoors.

Professor Mike Griffin said it “would be crazy” not to take every possible step to reduce infections during winter given the added risk of a faster-spreading variant, as well as the prospect of life-saving vaccinations in the near future.

Taylor told BBC Breakfast: "When there is increased mixing we know there is likely to be increased transmission, (Scotland's) levels have never fallen to the kind of levels that we would have wished, so we are starting from a higher base.

"In addition, the new variant strain we are seeing does appear to be significantly more transmissible and that does give us great cause for concern, when we add that to the usual winter pressures we are really very anxious for the potential of a further huge surge of cases."

The professor, however, did not condemn the Scottish Government's decision to relax the rules for a day.

"We have to remember our humanity and how important it is for some people to have had the ability to be with family even for a short time,” she commented.

"I think it is absolutely right that the restrictions were only flexed for that day but, inevitably, there will be a cost for this."

Taylor urged everyone to avoid household mixing over new year and remember all the rules of handwashing, social distancing and mask wearing over the Christmas period.

But she warned non-urgent care will have to be paused in Scotland due to Covid-19.

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The professor explained: "Everybody has been working over the last nine months to try and ensure that we catch up with the backlog, and we will continue to do that.

"But the harsh reality is that some places that are under pressure, some of that non-urgent work will have to be paused, we have to focus on urgent work and we have to be able to roll out the vaccination programme."

She added: "There are hidden harms from Covid both in terms of operations and all sorts of other social and mental health and economic harms which we are all very, very aware of.

"As healthcare professionals, we want to be able to treat everyone, we want to ensure everyone gets the best of care, but unless we get a grip of Covid and really get on top of this then we won't be able to open up the other services again."

"We have to focus on getting on top of the acute problems we have at the moment."

Her warning came as Griffin called for safety measures to be ramped up.

He said this should include wearing face masks in public spaces outdoors as well as indoors, and delaying the return of university students to campuses in January after halls of residence were associated with a spike in cases at the end of summer.

He explained: “I think this new variant of Covid has changed our thinking on all of this. Above all, we wanted schools to continue – it was crucial for children’s development and education, and university education as well.

“However, the prospect of these vaccines becoming available to mean we have the potential to get rid of this disease.

“It would be crazy not to take every possible opportunity of minimising transmission during January.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Academy – which represents the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh – said it is “gravely concerned” that the NHS could be “overwhelmed”.

A statement read: “Our plea to the public is simple, please do not let your guard down now. You must continue to play your part to protect the NHS and save lives. Our general practices are exceptionally busy and our hospitals are already near capacity.

“We risk facing a ‘perfect storm’ of challenges if we don’t take collective action now to prevent further spread of Covid-19.

“We are calling for social distancing to be two metres at all times and for masks to be worn in any situation where you are meeting people who are not in your household or bubble – indoors or outdoors.

“All other potential measures to decrease community transmission should be considered by the government.”