Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Scotland and Wales both act to tighten rules amid Omicron spread

Scotland and Wales both act to tighten rules amid Omicron spread

Nicola Sturgeon cancels Hogmanay street party as Wales brings in £60 fines for failing to work from home

Edinburgh’s annual Hogmanay street party has been cancelled, while in Wales employees face £60 fines for failing to work from home as governments tightened rules to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.

The Scottish and Welsh governments also imposed limits on sporting events from Boxing Day.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, reassured the public that they would not have to change their Christmas Day plans as she appealed to everyone to reduce their social contact and stay at home as much as possible in advance of Christmas and after the festive weekend.

Sturgeon told MSPs on Tuesday that further protections were necessary, including all outdoor events being limited to 500 people, and indoor events including concerts limited to 200 people seated, or 100 standing, with 1-metre physical distancing required for any events still going ahead.

The Welsh government said all sporting events would be held behind closed doors from 26 December and introduced a legal requirement to work from home unless there was a reasonable excuse not to, accompanied by a £60 fixed penalty notice for workers and £1,000 fines for companies.

The GMB union warned this would affect “the poorest, most vulnerable workers”, while the Wales TUC general secretary, Shavanah Taj, expressed “shock and concern” at the decision.

Scotland’s new rules will hit the Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers on 2 January and large-scale Hogmanay street parties: Edinburgh’s was planned to go ahead at a reduced capacity of 30,000. Omicron cases have increased in Scotland by more than 50% in a week.

Acknowledging the disappointment of those looking forward to such events, Sturgeon said: “The much higher transmissibility of Omicron means large gatherings have the potential to become very rapid super-spreader events, putting large numbers at risk of getting infected very quickly. Limiting these events helps reduce the risk of widespread transmission.”

She said this would also cut down the transmission risks of fans travelling to and from matches. “And second, these large events put an additional burden on emergency services, especially the police and ambulance services,” she added.

Her statement included some other changes:

*  Non-professional indoor contact sports for adults should not take place during the three-week period from 26 December.

*  A requirement for table service only will be reintroduced for venues serving alcohol for consumption on the premises.

*  ndoor hospitality and leisure venues will be asked to ensure 1-metre distancing between groups.

*  People meeting indoors at home or in hospitality or leisure venues should be in groups of no more than 3 households.

Sturgeon told MSPs that the S-gene dropout indicator for the Omicron variant now accounted for 62.9% of all cases in Scotland, compared with 27.5% this time last week. While there were increases across all age groups, the biggest – of 161% – was in 20- to 24-year-olds.

She said that staffing shortages were already putting additional strain on health and emergency services, adding that 100 Scotrail services were cancelled on Sunday because of staff absence.

Sturgeon said that she was “acutely aware” that the latest restrictions, as well as the advice to avoid socialising, had significant financial implications for many businesses.

However, she questioned whether the latest announcement of a £1bn bailout package for UK businesses by the Treasury generated “new” money for Scotland, rather than being an advance allocation of money already budgeted for.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×