Nicola Sturgeon announces lifting of Omicron restrictions in Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon said the data suggested Omicron peaked in Scotland in the first week of January. Photograph: Fraser Bremner/AFP/Getty Images

Restrictions brought in before Christmas to stem the Omicron surge across Scotland are to be lifted from next Monday, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said.

Nightclubs will reopen, there will be an end to social distancing and to a three-household limit indoors, Sturgeon said, adding that the country had “turned the corner on the Omicron wave”.