Covid Scotland: 389 confirmed or possible cases of Omicron variant in Scotland

There have been at least 389 confirmed or possible cases of the new Omicron variant in Scotland, official figures show.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) said that as of December 5, there were 71 confirmed, nine highly probable and 309 possible cases reported.

Almost half of those affected were between the ages of 20 and 39.

Public Health Scotland said there are 389 confirmed or possible Omicron cases in the country

It comes after Nicola Sturgeon urged Scots to work from home until the middle of January amid concerns over the "rapid" rise of the new variant.

The First Minister warned of "difficult judgements" ahead, with restrictions now kept under daily review.

PHS said Omicron "currently represents a very small, but rapidly growing, proportion of all cases in Scotland".

It said it was not aware of any hospitalisations among confirmed cases yet.

The organisation’s latest statistical report said: "All appropriate public health action is being undertaken by NHS health boards to mitigate onward transmission.

"In particular, the exemption from contact self-isolation periods of ten days has been removed for contacts linked to confirmed or suspected Omicron cases.

"The need for other public health measures is determined on a risk assessment basis by local health protection teams."

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has seen largest number of Omicron cases, at 27, followed by Lanarkshire, at 22.

Confirmed cases of Omicron have been in “relatively younger” people, with almost half in the 20-39 age group.

The PHS report added: "No marked differences were observed [in] the distribution of incident cases by sex (54 per cent of Omicron confirmed cases were women versus 52 per cent amongst all cases).

"Confirmed Omicron cases were relatively younger than all cases, with 48 per cent in the former and 25 per cent in the latter between the ages of 20-39 years.

"The somewhat younger age profile of the confirmed Omicron cases reflects the early detection of a large number of cases in events that typically attract people in these age groups."

Last week, the Scottish Government said several Omicron cases were linked to a Steps concert at the Hydro in Glasgow on November 22.

A total of 12,216 people have now died in Scotland with confirmed or suspected coronavirus.

Scotland recorded nine new cases of the Omicron variant in the past 24 hours, taking the overall number to 108.