 That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a statement by Nicholas Sturgeon on Covid-19 update. The First Minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Nicholas Sturgeon, First Minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'll give an update today on Covid generally and also the latest data on Omicron. I'll report on progress with booster vaccinations. I will again appeal to everyone across the country to reduce contacts and stay at home as much as possible in the run-up to Christmas day and then again after this Christmas weekend and also reiterate the steps that we can all take to make family celebrations this weekend as safe as possible. I'll also confirm Cabinet's decision to propose some additional protections in relation to large-scale live events and indoor public places. We judge these to be necessary to further slow the spread of the virus so that we can protect health, the national health service and the economy as we work to complete booster vaccinations. I'll set out further support for the many businesses affected by the advice that we feel duty bound to give in the interests of protecting public health. First, today's statistics, 5,242 positive cases were reported yesterday. At 14.9 per cent of tests carried out, 515 people are in hospital with Covid one fewer than yesterday. 37 people are in intensive care, also one fewer than yesterday. Sadly, a further nine deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths under the daily definition to 9,790. I want again to send my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one. In last week's statement, I reported that cases had increased by 25 per cent in the preceding seven days and that we would in all likelihood see a further increase in infections as Omicron became the dominant strain circulating in Scotland. Omicron has now firmly established itself as the dominant strain. We know from the SDN drop-out indicator that it now accounts for 62.9 per cent of all cases. That is compared to 27.5 per cent this time last week. Omicron is significantly more transmissible than previous variants, and we estimate that our number is well above three. It is currently spreading rapidly across Scotland, so the steep increase in infections that was predicted last week has now started to materialise. Cases increased by more than 50 per cent in the past week from over 3,500 a day on average to almost 5,500 a day. There were increases across all age groups, but the biggest, an increase of 161 per cent, was in the 20 to 24-year-old age group. The rate of acceleration in an age cohort with to date lower levels, relatively speaking, of booster protection, underlines the vital importance of everyone getting booster jagged as quickly as possible, and I will return to that later. However, as the booster roll-out is completed and bearing in mind that it takes around a week for immune protection to take effect on individuals, we must also act to slow down the spread of cases. I want to explain why that is so vital. First, the toll that a rising wave of infections will have on health and on health and social care is considerable. We do not yet know if the proportion of Omicron cases needing hospital care will be lower, higher or the same as with Delta. However, there is still no compelling evidence that Omicron is intrinsically milder than previous strains. However, even if the proportion of cases needing hospital care is lower, as we hope it will be, a smaller proportion of a much larger number of infections will still have a deeply damaging impact. As well as the suffering caused to individuals and families, the additional pressure on our already stretched national health service will be extremely difficult to manage. In addition to that, if large numbers of people become infected, even mildly, the impact on the economy and critical services through sickness and isolation absences will be crippling. Indeed, we are already starting to see this impact. 100 ScotRail services were cancelled yesterday due to staff absence. Theatres are already being forced to cancel shows due to Covid cases amongst cast and crews. Even more seriously, staffing shortages are already being felt across the supply chain and they are exacerbating the intense pressures that the NHS and emergency services are working under. That is why we must act and let me be clear again that this is not a choice between protecting health and protecting the economy. If we do not stem the spread of the virus, both health and the economy will suffer. Before I set out the action that we must take, let me address one further point. Some ask why we cannot wait until we have more data and know exactly the impact Omicron will have on the NHS. I totally understand the temptation to delay to hope, after two long years of this, that further steps might not be necessary. First, as I said a moment ago, we are already seeing a significant impact from staff absences across the economy and public services. We must do what we can to stem that. Secondly, we know from experience that if we wait until the data tells us conclusively that we have a problem, for example with hospital admissions, it will already be too late to act to avoid that problem. We must act quickly insofar as we are able, given our financial constraints, and we must get ahead of the data if we can. The obligation of government is to take difficult decisions to keep the country as safe as possible, no matter how unpopular those decisions might be. Let me now set out the steps that we all need to take. Firstly, though, let me stress that we are not changing the advice for Christmas that I set out last week. It is important that, with just a few days to go, there is certainty about family gatherings on Christmas day and Boxing day. I am not asking anyone to change those. However, and I can't stress this enough, please follow advice to keep family celebrations as safe as possible. Keep gatherings as small as your family circumstances allow. Make sure that everyone does a test shortly before getting together. Anyone who tests positive should not mix with others. Given how infectious Omicron is, you should assume that if one member of a household is positive, the others are likely to be so too. Follow hygiene advice and keep windows open. Crucially, between now and Christmas day, cut your contacts with people in other households as much as possible. Minimize socialising with others, either at home or in indoor public places. Indeed, stay at home as much as is feasible. That is the best way of avoiding getting Covid and having to isolate over Christmas, or inadvertently spreading infection when you do meet up with others. I am really grateful to everyone who has followed that advice over the last week. It will be making a difference. I want to stress this point. The steep increase in cases over the past week would have been steeper still, but for people who are complying with this advice. I hope that we may already be collectively slowing the spread, but it is important that we stick with it. My first new request of everyone today is this. From 27 December, as we come out of the Christmas weekend, and at least until the end of the first week in January, when we will review that advice again, please go back to limiting your contacts as much as you possibly can. Please stay at home as much as is feasible when you go out and maintain physical distancing from people not in your own group. Difficult, though, it is that please follow that advice over a new year and minimise hugmone socialising as much as you can. If we all follow the advice to minimise the contact that we have outside our own households, we will help to limit the spread of infections. This is the bedrock of our plan for the immediate period ahead. However, while our core advice is to reduce socialising and stay at home as much as is feasible, the Cabinet's judgment is that we must also take some further steps to make the places where people might still gather as safe as possible, and that is why we are proposing some additional protections. None of those are being proposed lightly, but we do consider them necessary to help to stem the increase in cases, safeguard health and protect the NHS, emergency services and the economy while we complete and get the full effect of the booster programme. First, from 26 December, inclusive of that date, for a period of up to three weeks, we intend to place limits on the size of live public events that can take place. That does not apply, let me stress, to private life events such as weddings. For indoor standing events, the limit will be 100. For indoor seating events, it will be 200. For outdoor events, it will be 500 seating or standing. Physical distancing of one metre will be required at events that go ahead within those limits. That will, of course, make sports matches, including football, effectively spectator-free over this three-week period, a situation similar to that in Wales from Boxing Day. It will also mean, unfortunately, that large-scale hugmanay celebrations, including the planned here in our capital city, will not proceed. I know how disappointing this will be for those looking forward to these events and for the organisers of them, but I want to underline why we think that this difficult decision is necessary. First, we know that the much higher transmissibility of Omicron means that large gatherings have the potential to become very rapid superspreader events, putting large numbers at risk of getting infected very quickly. Limiting those events helps to reduce the risk of widespread transmission. It also cuts down the transmission risk associated with travel to and from such events. Second, and this is not an insignificant point, these large events put an additional burden on emergency services, especially the police and ambulance services. At a time when these services are already under severe pressure and also dealing with high-staff absences, limiting large-scale events will help them to focus on delivering essential services to the public. I would ask the public, despite the disappointment, that I know that this decision will generate to please understand the reasons for it. Second, we intend to issue guidance to the effect that non-professional indoor contact sports for adults should not take place during up to a three-week period from 26 December. That is because those activities where physical distancing is not possible also create a heightened risk of transmission. Finally, from 27 December, again for up to three weeks, we intend to introduce some further protections in hospitality settings and other indoor public places to reduce transmission risk in what are through no fault of those who run such venues' higher-risk environments. I can confirm that a requirement for table service only will be reintroduced for venues serving alcohol for consumption on the premises, and we will also ask indoor hospitality and leisure venues to ensure one-metre distance not within but between groups of people who are attending together. We will continue to advise, as I said last week, people that if they are attending indoor hospitality or leisure venues—remember, our code advice remains to minimise this—there should be no more than three households represented in any group. I know how unwelcome this will be for everyone, but we believe that these precautionary steps will help us to navigate a difficult period more safely. I am also acutely aware that these decisions and the advice that we are giving the public have significant financial implications for many businesses. Last week, I announced £100 million of support from within our existing resources for affected sectors. I can also confirm eligibility and guidance for the hospitality sector that will be published on the Scottish Government website today. Since then, the Treasury has given approval for money that would have come to us later to be allocated now. As I have said, we had already budgeted for most of that money, so we cannot allocate it now without causing significant shortfalls elsewhere, including in the health budget. Money simply cannot be spent twice. However, we estimate that the Treasury announcements give us additional spending power now of £175 million. I can confirm today that we will allocate all of that to business support. The Treasury has also, in the past hour or so, announced additional funding for business. Unfortunately, it would appear that that announcement generates no further funding for Scotland and that any consequentials are already contained within previous announcements by the Treasury. I can, however, announce that the Scottish Government will allocate a further £100 million from elsewhere in our budget between now and the end of the financial year. That will involve really difficult decisions, but the impact of the current crisis on business is such that we consider it essential. Taken together, that adds up to a fund of £375 million that will help to support businesses for the unavoidable impacts of our decisions over the next three weeks. That is significantly more proportionately than the Chancellor has just announced for businesses elsewhere in the UK. While that is significant funding, I understand that it will not fully compensate business. As I said last week, my view is that the scale and urgency of the Omicron challenge requires financial support for business on a scale similar to that at the start of the pandemic. However, current UK funding arrangements mean firstly that only the Treasury has the borrowing powers to provide support on such a scale, and second that financial support at scale is triggered only when the UK Government takes decisions for England. All of that means that our ability to act to protect public health and to compensate individuals and businesses that are affected is curtailed. That cannot be right in a public health emergency. While today's Treasury announcement may be a welcome acknowledgement of the crisis that businesses face, it does not yet go far enough. We will therefore continue to press the UK Government to take the threat of Omicron more seriously and to act accordingly. However, in the meantime, we will indeed, we must live up to our own responsibilities to do everything that we can to protect health, lives and livelihoods here in Scotland. Before I conclude with an update on vaccination, let me cover two further points. Firstly, it remains our priority—I hope Parliament's priority—to reopen schools as normal after the Christmas holidays. Indeed, one reason for asking adults to make sacrifices for a further period after Christmas is to help to minimise any impact on children's education. However, to help to ensure that schools are safe environments for young people and staff, updated guidance based on recommendations from the education advisory subgroup was published at the end of last week. Colleges and universities are also assessing any steps that they need to take for the new term, and some are returning to a default model of online learning for the start of the new term. For everyone involved in education, staff, children, students and parents, this has been another exceptionally difficult term. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all those who have helped to ensure that children have been well supported, and indeed to children and young people themselves for the tough times that they continue to endure at such an important stage of their lives. Second point, I want to cover briefly relates to test and protect. The current surgeon cases is putting significant pressure on test and protect, and I'm grateful to all of its teams for working so hard to help break chains of transmission. From this week, test and protect will flex its approach as necessary to ensure that priority is given to higher risk settings, such as hospitals and care homes, where outbreaks can cause most harm. For many of us, that means that if we test positive, our contact from test and protect teams is more likely to be by text or email rather than phone call. Please make sure that you respond to these messages and complete the online form that is sent. That helps your contacts to get the right advice as quickly as possible. If you are the contact of someone who tests positive, please follow test and protect advice. That will help to slow the spread of the virus. Let me turn finally to boosterjags, which are, of course, our best line of defence against Omicron, and they are what will get us through and out of this difficult phase, I believe. There has been a significant acceleration of the programme in the past week, and I thank everyone involved. The further two large-scale vaccination centres have opened this week at Hamden, Glasgow and at the Edinburgh international conference centre. Yesterday, 69,135 boosters or third-doses were administered. That means that well over half now of the adult population has had a third dose or a booster. Last week, I said that our target was to have 80 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated with boosters by the time the bell strike on Hugmanay. I can confirm today that we are now confident that we have the capacity to meet that target, but, of course, to reach it or get as close to it as possible, we need everyone who is eligible to come forward. If you have an appointment booked for January, please reschedule it for December. Appointments will be available right through Christmas Eve and then next week, up to and including Hugmanay, so please book an appointment now. Alternatively, check out the location of drop-in clinics and go there instead. Getting fully vaccinated is the best thing that any of us can do to protect ourselves, our loved ones and the country, so please get boosted before the bells. This statement in some ways feels distressingly similar to the one that I gave last year. Just a few days before Christmas, I am again urging people to stay at home as much as possible to slow down a highly infectious new variant of Covid. Although it might not feel like it, we are in a much stronger position than last year. We have had far fewer restrictions in place for much of this year than was the case in the previous year. Christmas Day this year will be more normal than last year. Most important of all, a rapidly increasing number of adults is now protected by three doses of vaccine. All of us, as individuals, know what to do to protect ourselves and each other, so please make sure that you do all of those things. First, get fully vaccinated as soon as possible. Second, test regularly. Our advice, of course, is to stay at home as much as possible, but if you are meeting other people, test before you go every time and test as close to going as possible. This is really important, of course, for family gatherings on Christmas day or Boxing day. Finally, take all the other precautions that can help to make a difference. Work from home when possible. Stay at home as much as you can. If you visit indoor public places, limit the number of households in your group to a maximum of three. We are face covering on public transport in shops and when moving about in hospitality, and make sure that the covering fully covers your mouth and nose. Keep windows open if you are meeting indoors, even at this time of year, and follow all advice on hygiene. Sticking to all of that is really hard, but there is no doubt whatsoever that it will help to keep all of us safer. I want to end this final statement before Christmas, with a heartfelt thank you to everyone for everything that you have done to help us through another exceptionally tough year. I wish everyone the happiest and safest Christmas possible and, of course, a much better and brighter new year ahead. The First Minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 14 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business. I will be grateful to members who wish to ask a question where to press the request to speak buttons now. We are once again facing the unwelcome reality of this new variant and new restrictions. Everyone in this chamber has to understand and accept the frustration and anger that people across Scotland are feeling right now. However, we can get through this. I want to encourage everyone to go out and get their boosterjag. I have my own scheduled for Christmas Eve, but I also want to say to a proportion of the population out there that we often focus solely on boosterjags. However, there are people who have not yet had their first jag, and I want to encourage them to come forward as well. They have not left it too late. There is no shame turning up to get your first jag now. The vaccinators simply want to protect you, so please consider doing that as well. It is our vaccination scheme in Scotland and across the UK that has helped to keep Covid under control, and it remains our best way out of this. It is absolutely crucial that we see the Scottish and UK Government working together constructively, fully focused on Omicron. Instead, sadly, over the last week, we have seen an unnecessary funding row that is a distraction to the task at hand. The Scottish Government originally expected £268 million, which would have still been new money, but they have now been provided with £440 million. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies made clear yesterday, that £440 million is extra money now. The Scottish Government has the funding available and Scottish businesses are crying out for it. The First Minister said this last week that businesses are already bleeding every 24 hours counts. Will the First Minister tell us today when the first grants will start to reach businesses? Will it be before Christmas, or will it be into the new year? Secondly, the First Minister explained in her statement that 100 ScotRail services have been cancelled due to stab absences and that there are similar pressures on our emergency services and others. We raised concerns last week that self-isolation guidance for household contacts would lead to those challenges. While well-intentioned in seeking to limit the spread of the virus, the rules could grind our transport network, our economy and public services to a halt. Given that the evidence is now showing the impact of those rules on our essential services, will the First Minister tell us if she is considered changing those rules so household contacts can end self-isolation if they have a negative test? If not, is she confident that the position is sustainable for our economy and our public services? I will take each of those points in turn. First, I take the opportunity to agree with Douglas Ross about the importance of, if you have not already had your first or second jag to get those jags as quickly as possible, it is never too late. Come forward now and you will be vaccinated. Of course, the sooner you get your first jag, the sooner you will get your second jag, and then the sooner you will also be able to get the protection of booster vaccination. That is a point that I will reiterate and underline. Secondly, in terms of the funding, I am not trying to cause a route with anybody. There are structural problems in how our funding arrangements work. We have different views across the chamber on the Barnett formula, and I will leave those to one side. I think that what we have learned during a public health emergency is that the Barnett formula is not fit for purpose, and that is a view that the Government of Wales and Northern Ireland shared. We are trying to propose constructive ways of making sure that all of us are able to discharge our public health responsibilities fairly and equitably. I welcome the announcements that the Treasury has made. The money that was announced last week is not new money, but it is already budgeted for, largely for the health budget. To spend it now, we have to remove money that the health service is already planning to use. The announcement that was made on Sunday gives us extra spending power now, money that is not already budgeted. I am saying today that we will allocate every penny of that to business support, and between my announcement last week and my further announcement today, we will find through very difficult budgetary decisions between now and the end of the financial year an additional £200 million. That means that we are creating a pot of money to help businesses over the next period of £375 million. That is proportionately, significantly in excess, of the £1 billion for the whole UK that the chancellor has announced today. The grants that were based on my announcement last week for hospitality are up to £6,800 per hospitality business that compares up to £6,000 announced by the chancellor. Today, we are working to get those grants to businesses just as quickly as possible, and we are working with councils to do that. Finally, on self-isolation, I mean, this is an important point, and it is one that is under on-going consideration by the Government, but the fundamental point that I need to make is this. It is not self-isolation that is creating staff absences, it is the virus that is creating staff absences. Given the infectiousness of Omicron, if at this stage we do not have households isolating when one member is positive, we will have many more cases of the virus spreading and we will compound not alleviate that problem. That is the position right now, but we know and we want to migrate to something more proportionate as quickly as possible, so I can tell the chamber that the Government is actively considering, as the booster programme meets its target, moving away from the current situation to something more proportionate, but it would be counterproductive to do that right now, because the household isolation policy at the moment remains one of the protections that we have in place. Sorry, I start by sending my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one. I was fortunate enough to get my booster yesterday, so I thank Zara and all our vaccinators for their extraordinary efforts, and I appeal to people across the country if you have not had your first or second dose of the vaccine, please do, and if you are due a booster then please book it. As we heard towards Christmas, I would also ask everyone to please wear a mask when appropriate, follow the advice and also please take a lateral flow test before meeting others. This is about protecting you, your family and those around you. This is a time of anxiety for people worried about their lives and livelihoods, especially for those in the hospitality, events and leisure industries, as well as the self-employed. People will expect and need the Scottish and UK Governments to work together in the national interest at this time of crisis. I note the announcements of the chancellor today, but they simply do not go far enough. There must be an increase in the level of statutory sick pay, there must be much more significant financial support for impact of businesses and the self-employed, and for the sectors that are shut down or as good as shut down, a furlough-type scheme so that we do not have businesses going bust and thousands becoming unemployed. Here in Scotland, it was believed to be around a £4,500 limit that businesses could apply for. I think that the First Minister was suggesting that that perhaps would be increased to £6,800, but for many businesses that will go nowhere near covering the impact of the losses that they will face over Christmas. No one should have to think twice about self-isolating due to financial pressures. Last month, 30 per cent of people's applications for a self-isolation grant were rejected. That has peaked at as much as 50 per cent, and with some local authorities that has gone as high as 70 per cent of applications for a self-isolation grant rejected. Can that be urgently reviewed? All the data published for every local authority, the eligibility criteria expanded, and the payment made much quicker. Finally, of course, we hope that this is the last variant, but it is highly likely that it will not be. We must learn the lessons of Delta and Omicron. We need to build resilience and contingencies in our public services and the wider system. The Scottish and UK Governments must develop a framework and triggers for when restrictions will kick in, what they will be and what financial package of support will come with it. Will the Scottish Government commit to urgently starting that work, and that is something that we will commit to engaging with them actively because the on-going uncertainty only adds to the level of anxiety and impacts negatively on people's health and wellbeing? I agree about the importance of the Scottish and UK Governments working together. In many respects, we have been and continue to work well together in the past week and a half. I have taken part in three Cobra meetings. We have regular four nations discussions over and above that. We have an issue with financing that we cannot unilaterally resolve. Anas Sarwar has narrated much of it today. The points that I make in this chamber are almost identical to the points that Anas Sarwar's Labour colleague, Mark Drakeford, is making in Wales. We cannot unilaterally resolve those, but I hope that we will get movement to find better ways forward on that. After the announcements that I have made today, we will have further consultation with businesses to see what additional support can be made available from the additional funding and what way it is best to make that available in. We have already given commitments to hospitality in other sectors. The additional money that I am announcing today will allow us to go further, but I agree and I said it myself in my statement that it will not fully compensate businesses. That is why I think that there should be the reintroduction at this stage of at least a targeted furlough scheme in order to help the most affected sector. We will do everything that we can within our own resources and we will work with colleagues in Wales and Northern Ireland to try to get more support from the UK Government. I will again take away the points on self-isolation grant. I accept the premise of that question, but again I come back to the fact that we have a limited pot of money, and so we have decisions to make about whether we try to focus that money on those most in need or spread it more thinly over a wider range of people by extending eligibility criteria. That is not an easy balance to strike, but we put an extra £100 million into self-isolation grant, so we will again consider that. Lastly, we have already started work on longer-term health resilience, not just about the entry to and exit to restrictions. I very much hope, although I said this before, that this will be the last time that we have to impose restrictions, but more fundamentally, as we come out of the acute phase of Covid, as it becomes more endemic in our society, how do we build the resilience in the economy and health services to deal with that? That is work that is at an early stage. We are looking at whether our overall Covid strategic framework can be and how it can be adapted, and we may publish an updated version of this with more of a focus on health resilience in the early part of next year. If members across the chamber have thoughts that they want to feed into that, I am sure that they would be gratefully received. Alex Cole-Hamilton Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Today is the longest night of the year, and this statement will spell further darkness to an event sector that is already on its knees. They were the last to reopen, and they will be the first to be asked to close. Pantos and theatres will shut their doors, stadiums will close, Hogmanay is cancelled again, and all of this has a knock-on effect to pubs and restaurants. They will all need to be made whole and compensated pound for pound and drink for drink. We are seeing a return to the pandemic that we first experienced last year, which puts so much pressure on so many of our key sectors and services. I would like to ask about PCR testing capacity. Last week, on one day alone, 64,000 tests were processed. The last time this chamber was updated, our national capacity stood at just 80,000 tests a day. Can I ask the First Minister to update the chamber? Is 80,000 still the reach of our capacity in PCR processing? Is she confident that demand will not outstrip lab capacity? If it does, we run the risk of having key workers, particularly health workers, healthy and asked to stay at home for want of a negative PCR test. First, I absolutely accept the points about the impact on the event sector and the knock-on effects of that into hospitality and other parts of the economy, which is why it is so important that we do everything that we can to deliver financial compensation and, of course, with others, encourage the UK Government to provide more wear with all. I think that it is really important—I think that the point is legitimate and I will address it directly—that it is not people being pinged that is causing the problem, it is people getting the virus that is causing the problem, and therefore we need to suppress the virus. That is just an inescapable truth, which is why that leads to some of the difficult decisions that Governments are again having to take. Some of the decisions that I have outlined today are in common with decisions that are being taken by Governments in many other parts of Europe—indeed, in many other parts of the UK and Wales. The Republic of Ireland slightly further afield has taken many of those decisions too. It is suppressing the virus ultimately that will help us to relieve the pressure. Self-isolation, which is where the pandemic comes from, is part of the way in which we help to suppress the virus. I go back to the comments that I made in response to Douglas Ross. On the issue of testing capacity, testing capacity is being increased. Lab testing capacity is being increased across the UK right now. I will put in spice the up-to-date figures for our daily capacity. It is increasing, but it is still a bit of a moving feast if you forgive me for using that non-technical expression. We have ample capacity right now. In addition to the UK network capacity, we have the three regional NHS labs and pre-existing NHS capacity. However, if cases continue to soar, we will reach a point, not just in Scotland but across the UK, where we start to challenge that capacity. That is another reason to keep a downward pressure on cases. Lab capacity is only one half of our testing capacity. The sampling capacity is another. Right now, we have testing capacity and people who have symptoms or have a positive LFD should go forward and get a PCR test. We continue to have constructive discussions, because that is an area of very good joint working between the four nations about how we continue to increase that testing capacity as far as we possibly can. Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Murdoff Racer. First Minister, I have been contacted by a number of constituents who are concerned about their employer requiring them to attend their office as they feel that they should be able to work from home. What advice would you give to my constituents in this situation and what steps will the Scottish Government be taking to ensure that employers are treating the situation as seriously as possible? I encourage very strongly all employers to do so. Where staff do have concerns, I encourage them to raise them with their employer or their union reps where that is appropriate or to contact the Scottish Hazards and their local authority environmental health team for advice and support. Remember that this is a message to employers. From last Friday, it is a legal requirement for businesses to take all reasonable measures to minimise the spread of Covid, and the guidance makes it clear that one of the measures employers must take is to allow employees to work at home if they can. We expect businesses and employees to take that requirement seriously. Working from home is a really important measure in controlling this more transmissible version of the virus. We continue to engage regularly with business organisations and trade unions on encouraging working from home, and lastly, I encourage businesses to remember that suppressing the virus is in the interests of business and the economy as well. This is not a choice between protecting health in the NHS and protecting the economy. If we do not protect health, the economy will suffer, so we all have an interest in making sure that all of this guidance is followed. Myrtle Fraser, Kenneth Gibson Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister in her statement mentioned the issue of schools, and she will be aware of calls in some quarters, or schools in January, to return to a blended learning model. I wonder whether the First Minister would agree, however, that, given the harm that can be caused to children being absent from the classroom environment, we should be doing all that we can to ensure that schools do reopen fully in January. I will commit to ensuring that there is no delay to the start of the new school term after the Christmas and New Year break. First Minister, I think that I have made my views very clear on that. I want schools to reopen on schedule, and I want children to be back in school as normal. I think that everybody has suffered through the past two years, but children and young people have suffered disproportionately, particularly given the important stage of their lives and their education that they are at. My views on that are very clear. I would say two other things. When teachers hear me say that, they think that I am dismissing concerns about their safety. I am not, and I want to be very clear about that. We must make sure that schools are safe environments for young people and for staff, which is why the guidance that was published last week is so important. Secondly—this is a message to all of us as adults—the best way of keeping schools safe and getting schools to open normally on time is to suppress community transmission of the virus. That is why, if for a period we as adults need to accept some further sacrifices, then if that helps us to ensure normality in our schools, then, while none of us will enjoy it, and while it will not be easy for anybody or for businesses, that is one good reason why we should accept that and work together to get transmission down. Before I move to the next question, I advise members that there is a great deal of interest in the statement, and I would be grateful for short and succinct questions and responses. Kenneth Gibson is followed by Jackie Baillie. A number of constituents and even a member of my own staff have visited pharmacies to collect lateral flow test kits. We are initially refused them as they were not registered with pharmacy. That is even though the advice is that people do not have to be registered to receive test kits. Given that regular testing is essential to curb the spike in omicron cases, can the First Minister advise access kits being taken to encourage pharmacies to hand out test kits for people who need and request them? LFD kits are available to everyone and, let me be clear, they do not require a prescription and they do not require the need to be registered for any form of community pharmacy services in order to obtain one from a local pharmacy. The Scottish Government wrote to the community pharmacy network on 17 December to re-emphasise that point and, along with other advice for streamlining the process for distribution, to relieve pressure on community pharmacy teams who are extremely busy and who have done heroic work over the course of the pandemic. The community pharmacy network is a vital part of the public health response to Covid and, actually, since the introduction of the pharmacy collector arrangements in June, they have distributed over 1.3 million packs. That is almost 10 million tests helping to keep all of us safe during this time. Let me take the opportunity to place on record my thanks to pharmacists and their teams in communities the length and breadth of the country. Jackie Baillie to be followed by Eleanor Whitton. A and E statistics for week ending 12 December are the second worst on record. As John Thomson of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said, those delays will cost lives. We all applaud A and E and, indeed, all NHS staff for their valiant efforts, but things are about to get tougher as staff absence increases due to Omicron. What contingency planning is in place to deal with staff shortages in the NHS and also in other essential and emergency services? First Minister, accident emergency services, such as health services, are generally under intense pressure because of the pandemic. Again, that pressure has been exacerbated because of rising cases. We come back to the essential point. We need to get cases coming down again to relieve that pressure. That is the direct health pressure but also the pressure that comes from staff absences. In the week quoted, there was not an exemption from isolation for NHS. There is now, so that will help to some extent to alleviate that pressure, but the only way of properly alleviating that pressure—not just in the health service, but in the economy more generally—is to get the numbers of cases down, which is comes back to the reason for the difficult decisions that I am setting out today. Eleanor Whitton to be followed by Julian Mackay. Thank you, Presiding Officer. While the advanced funding announced by the UK Government is welcome, it falls well short of the financial support schemes that are required to reinforce public health messaging. It is just not sustainable that, while the Scottish Government is responsible for protecting public health, its actions are constrained by UK Government funding decisions. Does the First Minister agree that this is yet another example of how the current funding arrangements for Scotland are entirely inadequate when it comes to responding to the impacts of the pandemic? Yes, I do. That is the view that is shared by the Labour First Minister of Wales and, indeed, the DUP, the First Minister of Northern Ireland. Whatever your views on constitutional matters, let us put those to one side right now. The Barnett formula depends on decisions being taken by the UK Government for England. That then triggers resources through consequentials for the devolved administrations. That may, and we have different views on that, be appropriate in some circumstances. However, in a public health emergency where all of us have our own responsibilities to act to protect public health and protect public health quickly, that situation self-evidently does not work. It is just not fit for purpose in those circumstances, and we are making that case. I hope that we are getting some understanding of that, and I hope that we might be able to see some changes. We are making available as much money as we can from within our own resources. I welcome the acknowledgement by the chancellor today that help is needed but further help is required. It is not just me saying that or even Wales and Northern Ireland's Governments—many, many voices across England are saying that right now—that hospitality businesses and others are facing all the same pressures that businesses in Scotland are facing. Even after the chancellor's announcement today, we will be getting significantly less funding to help with that. That is an unsustainable position, and I suspect that some in the UK Government understand that, but the quicker the act, the more we will be able to get on top of that latest phase of infection. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The need for caution is clear, and the chancellor must bring back furlough to protect small businesses. The absence rate in schools that we have seen over the past 10 days cannot possibly be sustained in January and February without massive disruption to pupils' learning. I fully appreciate the difficulties with finance currently, but given the transmissibility of this new variant, has any new funding been identified to help schools ensure that ventilation is as effective as it can be? We have, as I know Jolene Mackay is aware, because she takes a very close interest in this. We made some additional funding available to local authorities some months ago for carbon dioxide monitors, allowing them to assess the ventilation. We continue to discuss with local authorities what further help and support we can provide to ensure that ventilation has been given due priority. Ventilation is not the only thing that needs to be done, but it is a really important protection, particularly in the school environment. We will continue to look carefully at what further steps we can take. I want to keep coming back to this central point. I know that it is one that Jolene Mackay absolutely understands. We should not accept the inevitability of soaring cases and soaring staff absences as we go into January and February. If we do not do the right things now, there is a real danger of that, but that is why we are setting out the decisions that we are taking right now to try to change the future on that. I was listening to a discussion on the radio this morning where somebody was saying that sage models always turn out to be wrong. Modelling is an imprecise science. I grant you that. The reason the worst predictions of sage have not come right in the past on all occasions is that we have acted to stop them coming to pass. That is the key point here. We have got to act to influence what happens over the next few weeks to avoid some of the worst impacts that will otherwise confront us. I very much welcome the £375 million that is available for business. I know that the First Minister's comments about needing a targeted furlough scheme. I understand that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were not at the recent Cobra meetings. Does she think that she really understands the seriousness of the situation? Does she know who is in control at Westminster or is anyone in control? I am not sure that that is a question that I am able to answer. I might pass on that question. I spoke to the Prime Minister on the telephone late on Friday. I certainly think that he appreciated the seriousness of the situation. That is definitely the impression that he gave me where a good conversation on Friday was. I appreciate the seriousness of the situation and acting in a way to try to change the seriousness of the situation are two different things. I and my Government take responsibility for public health decisions here in Scotland. I cannot and should not second-guess the decisions that the UK Government takes for England, although there are many voices pointing out that just as in Scotland action needs to be taken to get Covid under control. The interest for me and my Government is that it is only when the UK Government act for England that funding at scale is triggered, and that is the unsustainable asymmetrical bit that is constraining our ability to act. I hope that we see the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the entirety of the UK Government treat this challenge with the seriousness that it merits, because frankly, all of us need them to do that. We know that coronavirus is airborne, not droplet spread. We know that Omicron causes differing symptoms from the classical triad. It has an R of 4 and an attack rate of 50 per cent, evades double vaccines and thus can be unwittingly spread by people. My question is, given that it is our responsibility to protect the Scottish NHS workforce, will the First Minister upgrade healthcare workers' PPE from a surgical mask to FFP2 and 3? I will take advice on the clinical requirements for PPE in the health service. I have done that throughout and respond accordingly. The guidance on PPE, if memory is still serving me correctly, is on a four nations basis, so we are using the same grading of PPE in different circumstances. However, if clinicians say to me that something additional is required there, then of course, as a non-clinician, I will listen to that and I will act on that. What with vaccines, boosters and lateral flow tests, the role of test and protect is to some extent disappeared from sight. I welcome test and protect prioritising high-risk settings such as hospitals and care homes, but will the First Minister remind us all of the importance of test and protect generally and keeping the app active? I hope that, for most people, it is out of sight, because that means that we will not be getting contacted by it, but it is doing incredible work every single day to help to break the chains of transmission of the virus. I would take the opportunity, as was invited by Christine Grahame, to remind people of the importance of it. If they contact you because you have tested positive, make sure that you fill in the details that they will ask you for so that your contacts can be given information as quickly as possible. If you are contacted as a contact of someone who is positive, make sure that you follow the advice that you give. That is really important. Of course, to end on Christine Grahame's final point there, the app is really important. If you downloaded the app to start with, go on check that it is still active, that you have got it properly switched on and activated, because if you do that, that absolutely helps test and protect to do its job and makes sure that people are getting the protection that they need. Delayed discharge continues to affect many of my Lothian constituents due to care staff shortage. One 82-year-old man from Kirklessdon has been stuck in hospital for almost three months now, as there is lack of care homes available to take residents who require local authority-funded places. As we witness the surge of Covid cases, how will the Scottish Government solve the staff shortage and increase funded places so that social care packages can be delivered for many of my constituents in Lothian? It is an important question. Delayed discharges are not in the interests of people who are delayed in hospital, but they are not in the interests of the wider health system either. We are working hard to try to reduce delayed discharge. I come on to the issues that are compounding that challenge at the moment, but one of the key things that we have done in the recent past is to provide funding for the recruitment of 1,000 additional workers to help with exactly the problem that the member outlines. Of course, all of those problems are being compounded by staff absence due to the virus. That is happening in social care, the health service and across all sectors of our public services and the economy, which comes back to the essential point that I keep coming back to today. We have to get the virus under control. It will not solve all of those problems, but it will at least mean that we are not exacerbating them by the absences that we are seeing right now. That is one of the big factors behind the decisions that we have set out today, not least the cancellation of large-scale events to reduce the pressure on the ambulance service, for example, who are already struggling with some of those issues. It is so important that everyone eligible comes forward for vaccination. I would like to ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to encourage the uptake of the vaccine and boosters in our communities of black, Asian, ethnic minority, heritage and culture. That is an important question because it is vital that we get uptake of boosters high across the whole population, but that we make sure that within particular communities, communities that we know have been disproportionately affected by Covid, that uptake is high to and black, Asian and ethnic minority communities are certainly a key grouping there. We are working with health boards. Health boards have inclusion plans within the vaccination programme, setting out how they will actively offer vaccination to groups that we know face barriers to uptake. The decisions around the location of clinics are often taken with that very much in mind. Clinics in places of worship, for example. Glasgow Central Moss has been not the only one, but probably the most prolific example of that across Glasgow in particular. The ambulance service is also providing mobile outreach units to try to get into communities that have been harder to reach. We are also working closely with organisations such as Bemis, which is the national umbrella body supporting ethnic minorities voluntary sector groups in Scotland. There is a whole range of work that has been done, and I know that health boards will keep at this for as long as is necessary. It is imperative that there are enough personnel to run offshore oil and gas facilities, but equally that there are enough competent personnel in all of the safety, critical roles and emergency response teams at those installations. We are still learning about Omicron, whom we have heard about today, but failure to act swiftly could result in the shutdown of offshore installations or the shutdown of onshore terminals, which would result in a security of supply issue for Scotland and the wider UK. Will the First Minister support the oil and gas industry with a more flexible approach and a strategy that can be deployed quickly to focus on the protection of the most vulnerable yet retained personnel on their installations to ensure that they can continue to power the UK? Yes, is the short answer to that. We work with different sectors to make sure that those challenges that are being faced right now with staff absences are being mitigated as far as possible. There are exemption arrangements in place for critical sectors, and we keep that under review. We officials and ministers engage with different sectors, and I will make sure that we are engaging closely with oil and gas to address the particular concerns that have been raised. At last week's NHS Grampian MSP Covid update, we discussed the challenge of people with health and attention not presenting with conditions that require investigation or treatment. While the situation was beginning to ease and concerned the upsurge in Omicron, we will again discourage those in most need of healthcare from seeking help. So what assurance can the First Minister give that everything is being done to encourage people to make and keep appointments with GPs and others while recognising the huge pressures facing health services once again? This is an important point as well. Obviously, the NHS and all parts of the NHS are under severe and increasing pressure right now, but the NHS remains open to people who need it, and if anyone needs to contact their GP or other parts of the health service, they should do that. We have worked hard to try to ensure that GP capacity for medical care is preserved. For example, that is one of the reasons why we have deliberately limited the involvement of GPs in the Covid vaccination programme. They have not had no involvement, let me stress, and I am very grateful to them for what they have done, but we have not relied overly on GPs to deliver the vaccination programme. We are also increasing funding for the expansion of multidisciplinary teams, and we have provided additional funding to primary care to help specifically support services through the winter to try to increase the availability of face-to-face appointments as much as possible. We will also recognise that, for many reasons, not just Covid protection but for many other reasons, patients will benefit from other ways of accessing their GP online or telephone services. We will continue to work with and support GPs as much as we can. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Constituents have contacted me concerned about the distance that they need to travel to get their Covid vaccinations. Many do not live near vaccination sites and do not drive, so they rely on public transport, which in Glasgow is patriot, especially in the north of the city. That not only poses financial challenges to low-income households but can also be inaccessible and distressing for some disabled people. One constituent has said that they are afraid of using public transport due to the risk of catching Covid. Can the First Minister outline what plans are in place to ensure that people can get their vaccines closer to home and where they have to travel, that there is affordable, accessible and safe transport available to get them to the Covid vaccination centre? Pam Duncan-Glancy illustrates very well the challenge that I have articulated on occasion in the chamber, not least when I have been, understandably, challenged by others to have more mass vaccination centres. Mass vaccination centres do have a part to play, but we need a balance of provision so that we have much more community availability as well. That is why we have tried to get that balance between big scale, sometimes more remote places and smaller scale places that are easier for people to access in their own communities. That balance is difficult to get absolutely right. My advice to people who are struggling to get to a vaccination appointment is to contact the helpline to seek advice on how they can get that vaccination in a way that is more accessible. There are a variety of appointments, so you do not have to book an appointment in your own area. There are different ways now of booking appointments. We will also make sure that health boards are making sure that any appropriate assistance is given to people who really struggle to get to vaccination appointments, so we will ensure that that continues to be borne in mind. Public health messaging remains a crucial part of the fight against Omicron. Given that recent UGULF polling found that less than 2 per cent of Scots understood the full facts acronym, how will the Government ensure that any new Covid guidance is communicated effectively? And whenever possible, will the First Minister ensure that those communications are consistent through the adoption of a four nations approach to messaging? We do adopt four nations approaches. Some of the advertising right now is on a four nations basis. Just as the UK Government would reserve its right to say what I am about to say as well. I reserve the right, and there have been periods in the pandemic where we have not thought to the messages from the UK Government were appropriate or right, and therefore we have had messaging that we thought was appropriate for Scotland. I try and the Government tries to communicate as clearly as possible. We do not always get that right. We test messages, we learn from that. The facts advice we certainly will learn from that. That particular campaign is no longer in use because not all of the components of it are currently what we are advising people to do, although we are getting back closer to that at the moment. Sometimes I am criticised for taking it too seriously. I take the whole public communication aspect of that really seriously because I know how important it is, and we will absolutely learn any lessons as we go about how we improve that. Since the JCVI advice now includes pregnant women in the at-risk category, can the First Minister provide an update on the uptake of the Covid vaccine by pregnant women? I welcome the JCVI's recent advice, which is to move pregnant women into the at-risk group for Covid vaccination. That demonstrates the importance of women getting vaccinated when they are pregnant to protect them and their babies against what we know is the risk of Covid in pregnancy. Uptake among pregnant women remains much lower than it is for non-pregnant women, but it is increasing. The most recent data published by Public Health Scotland, which covers September and October, shows that uptake has been more similar in the months in pregnant women compared with the general female population than was the case previously. The fact that it is improving is encouraging, but I would continue to urge all pregnant women who have not already done so to book a vaccination as soon as possible. It is really important to protect their own health, but it is also really important to protect the health of their baby. That concludes the First Minister's statement, Covid-19 update. My apologies to those members who were unable to take. There will be a short pause before the next item of business.