Changes to isolation rules have been confirmed by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. 

From midnight people who test positive for Covid will only have to isolate for seven days – rather than ten – if they record two negative lateral flow tests on day six and seven.

Close contacts who are either under 18 years and four months old, or are “fully vaccinated” – now meaning with a booster  – will no longer have to isolate for 10 days.

Instead, they will have to take a lateral flow test every day for seven days.

And in a major change from tomorrow, if someone tests positive with an at-home  lateral flow test, they will no longer have to take a PCR test to confirm the result.

Instead, they must “isolate immediately and also report your result online so that Test & Protect can commence the contact tracing process.”

It comes after the regular infection survey by the Office for National Statistics suggested 1 in 20 people in Scotland had Covid on Hogmanay – up from 1 in 40 eight days earlier.

As of tomorrow, those with a positive lateral flow result will not need to take a PCR test to confirm it.

But people will need to upload their details and test results online for Track and Trace.

They will also need to provide details of their close contacts so that they can be notified.

Ms Sturgeon said: “We are also proposing an important change to the advice on testing.

“Scotland, and the UK as a whole, has one of the most extensive PCR testing systems anywhere in the world.

“However, with infection levels are as high as they are, we must fully utilise all available testing capacity – PCR and lateral flow.

“For those with symptoms of Covid, the advice remains to book a PCR test.

“And the advice to everyone is to test regularly with lateral flow devices, especially before meeting up with others.”