First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is being urged to relax CV19 restrictions this afternoon when she updates the Scottish Parliament.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, will demand an end to all restrictions except mask-wearing from the start of February.
The FM will chair a cabinet meeting this morning before updating Holyrood about the government’s plans in the afternoon.
Some rules have already begun to change, with the limit on crowds at large outdoor events lifted yesterday. But hospitality bosses and opposition MSPs have called for the "stranglehold of restrictions" to be ended swiftly.
Yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said she was "cautiously optimistic that we're turning the corner" of the Omicron wave of the virus, while warning that there is still "acute" pressure on health services.
Omicron 'nowhere near as bad' as forecast
However, Professor Helen Colhoun, who is chair of life course epidemiology at Edinburgh University, said Omicron’s impact on hospitals had been “nowhere near as bad” as forecast and said politicians must stop citing pressure on the health service as a justification for tightening restrictions, because the virus accounted for a “very small percentage of admissions”.
Colhoun, an honorary consultant at NHS Fife, told Good Morning Scotland on BBC radio: “There are good grounds for optimism. The translation for case numbers into numbers of hospitalisations is nowhere near as bad as was predicted at Christmas.
“That was the basis for tightening restrictions at Christmas so I think it is entirely appropriate, now that we have observed that further loosening of the relationship between case numbers and hospitalisations, that the relaxation should occur.”
Colhoun, an honorary consultant at NHS Fife, added: “Of course, the NHS does remain under pressure but the NHS is under pressure really for a whole host of structural reasons. Covid remains a very small percentage of daily admissions.”
Hospitality pressure
The Scottish Hospitality Group said "completely pointless" curbs on hospitality were "driving people to socialise at home" in an "uncontrolled environment".
Spokesman Stephen Montgomery said: "It's incredible that yet again, hospitality is the last sector to open. We are facing a catastrophic future that will impact thousands of jobs.
"We ask that the Scottish government concentrates on working collaboratively with industry to protect our long-term economy, which will be essential to providing employment opportunities post-pandemic."
The first minister will deliver her update to parliament at 2.20pm today.
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