COVID: Additional military personnel to deploy to Scotland

Ninety additional military personnel are being deployed to assist with the coronavirus effort in Scotland in the new year.

More than 200 members of the Armed Forces are already helping with vaccination rollout across the country.

Requests for military assistance have been approved at three health boards.

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Thirty-eight personnel will be working with NHS Grampian, 32 will support NHS Lanarkshire and 20 will be deployed to work with NHS Ayrshire & Arran from early January.

The personnel will help to manage the growing pressures caused by the Omicron variant. 

It comes after the Scottish government announced new coronavirus restrictions are to come into place after Christmas amid a rise in infection levels.

Limits to large-scale events and spectators at sports matches were announced earlier this week and nightclubs are being told to close for three weeks.

Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "The emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is adding to the winter pressures usually faced by the NHS which is why boards, like their counterparts across the UK, have requested military support to complement our existing resources. 

"I'm grateful to military personnel for their efforts at this time, along with all frontline staff in our NHS for the vital role they play in help keeping us safe.

"At this time it is also particularly important that we continue to take all precautions to prevent transmission. So test regularly for the virus, limit socialising in the run up to Christmas, wear face marks where required and open windows to improve ventilation.”

The personnel will begin inductions at the health boards from 7 January.