Harsher Covid restrictions across the UK are "inevitable" amid the spread of Omicron, a Scottish MP has said.
Shadow secretary of state for Scotland Ian Murray said that the pattern across the globe was to move to stricter rules, and that this would soon be mirrored in Britain.
The Labour MP, the party's only representative in Scotland, said: “The whole world at this moment in time is bringing in more restrictions. So there’s an inevitability that restrictions will creep in”.
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Asked on BBC radio whether he thought other nations should follow the Welsh Labour government’s decision to ban spectators at sporting events from Boxing Day, the MP for Edinburgh South did not give a clear answer.
He said: “At this stage, we just need to look at the science and whether or not that’s where we need to go to.”
Mr Murray said one of the biggest concerns about the spread of Omicron is the impact it is having on services.
“People being off work with Covid because of the spike in numbers means that services are closing down, it means that hospitals are under pressure with staff, it means that pubs and restaurants and other places can’t staff what they need to do,” he said.
“Yes, it’s about hospital admissions, but it’s also about whether or not our services can survive so many people being off, ill and isolating.”
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He added: “Hospitalisations don’t seem to be of the same trajectory as they would be with the Delta variant or otherwise, but the more people being infected have to stay at home and the more people having to stay at home the more risk that is to services.”
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