NICOLA Sturgeon is to attend a Cobra meeting on Wednesday with the UK Government amid warnings to "to be ready for the worst case scenario" amid the Omicron spread.

The First Minister is expected to take part in the meeting along with the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Communities Secretary Michael Gove will chair the meeting, due to take place at 5pm.

Gove leads coordination with the devolved nations, rather than Boris Johnson.

No10 had rejected pleas from Scottish and Welsh First Ministers for emergency talks last week, before finally bowing to demand for a Cobra meeting on Friday.

It is thought the First Minister will be demanding the UK Government consider bringing back the furlough scheme, which would allow her Cabinet to introduce wider restrictions while allowing affected staff to receive their full or partial wage.

She told Holyrood on Tuesday the subject of furlough was "discussed constructively in four-nations meetings over the course of the past week".

She added: "As members would expect, it is an issue that has been raised by me, the First Minister of Wales and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland."

"As I said, I have not seen the detail of what the UK Government has announced; I look forward to seeing that later, and I welcome it.

"The basic principle here, which should apply across all parts of the UK, is that, if we feel that it is essential to take measures to protect public health, we should not be constrained in doing so because of financial considerations. 

"It should not be the case that money is triggered only if the UK Government decides to take steps; if the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish Governments, acting
within devolved responsibilities, think that that is important, we should be able to trigger that support as well."

The furlough scheme came to an end on September 30, 2021, with the measure supporting the wages of more than 11.5m workers whose employers did not require them to work.

READ MORE: Omicron: Katy Clark breaks ranks to back SNP demand to bring back furlough

Today's Cobra meeting comes as UK Health Security Agency boss Jenny Harries warned the UK was facing "staggering" numbers of infections in the next few days from the Omicron variant.

She told MPs the NHS was in "serious peril" from the new strain.

The First Minister delivered a stark warning to Holyrood on Tuesday about the threat posed by the new variant which is more transmissable than the Delta variant and which vaccines are less effective against.

She told Scots that the Omicron variant had a R rate as high as 4 as she urged people to limit gatherings to no more than three households, with this advice coming after people were told to defer work Christmas parties.

READ MORE: Scotland 'potentially' faces further Covid restrictions, deputy first minister warns

New social distancing measures are also to be brought in in shops.

"On Omicron specifically, our assessment is that it is spreading very rapidly," she told Holyrood.

"The best indicator of this is the proportion of cases showing what is called the S Gene dropout. For about 95% of all cases in Scotland, tests are currently processed in a way that allows us to know if the S gene is present or not.

"This shows that Omicron cases are increasing exponentially - faster than any variant that has gone before. 

"When I made a statement to Parliament last week, around 4% of cases showed the S Gene drop out. By Wednesday it was 7%, on Friday it was above 15%. 
"Today, it is 27.5%."

She added: "We estimate that the doubling time is two to three days - more rapid than anything experienced in the pandemic so far. And we expect it to become the dominant strain within days.

"This matters because Omicron is significantly more transmissible than Delta. The R number associated with Delta is around one. But the R number for Omicron appears to be well over two and possibly above four."

Earlier today Deputy First Minister John Swinney said further coronavirus restrictions may "potentially" be needed before Christmas to curb the spread of Omicron as a health expert advised the country needs "to be ready for the worst case scenario".

Professor James Chalmers said the measures the First Minister has now put in place to restrict household mixing may slow the spread of the Omicron variant, but they are not enough to reverse the rise in infections.

Professor Chalmers, chair of respiratory research at Dundee University, said he viewed the First Minister's announcement as "a holding statement".

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: "Voluntary measures like this hopefully will slow down the growth in the Omicron variant, which is rising at an alarming rate in Scotland, but measures like this aren't going to turn around the case growth we have seen.

"I think the Government need to be ready next week, as we get more data on the vaccine protection against severe disease and other gaps that currently need to be filled in terms of our knowledge, to think about what other measures may be required.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon asks Scots to minimise household contacts amid Omicron rise

"If this is as bad as we think it is going to be, there may still be other measures required over the Christmas and the new year period.

"The modelling looks like in the worst case scenario we could have a really difficult winter, and we can't allow the health service to be overwhelmed.

"We need to be prepared and we need to prepare the public that we may require further restrictions."

His comments came as Swinney said people should not cancel trips to the pantomime - but should apply caution if they are considering travelling on a football supporters' bus, or allowing their child to attend a birthday party in someone else's home.