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Nicola Sturgeon today ramped up work from home orders for Scots - demanding businesses make sure people stay away from offices.
The First Minister delivered the tough message as she updated MSPs on the threat from the Omicron variant.
Amid fears that the mutant strain is on track to sweep the country within weeks, Ms Sturgeon insisted that none of the current restrictions north of the border will be eased before Christmas.
Making clear that included the instruction to work from home where possible, the SNP leader said: 'I know this is difficult, but I cannot stress enough how much difference we think this could make in helping stem transmission and avoid the need for even more onerous measures.'
In a direct call to employers, Ms Sturgeon said that 'if you had staff working from home at this start of the pandemic, please now enable them to do so again'.
delivered the tough message as she gave updated MSPs on the threat from Omicron
In total, there are 46,000 Covid cases on average each day in the UK and data from the Covid Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) suggests the new strain is already behind around one in 66 of them, or 1.4 per cent
Ms Sturgeon also urged Scots to follow rules around testing and self-isolation should they have symptoms, as well as regular lateral flow testing.
'I am not excluding myself from this,' she said.
'I am currently doing a test every morning before coming to work and I will do a test on any occasion I mix with others over the festive period. I will ask anyone visiting my home over Christmas to do likewise.'
Ms Sturgeon urged MSPs to 'lead by example' on testing.
