Suspected Omicron outbreak closes Paisley primary school

Todholm Primary has recorded a number of cases and staff and pupils are self-isolating

A primary school in Renfrewshire has been forced to close for a week after a suspected outbreak of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

Parents of children at Todholm Primary in Lochfield Road, Paisley, were told by email about the closure on Sunday.

Renfrewshire Council said the decision was taken as they were unable to maintain necessary staffing levels.

On Monday the Scottish government confirmed 23 new Omicron cases, bringing the total to 71.

Todholm pupils have been switched to remote learning from Monday 6 December until Friday 10 December.

Two class groups in P1 and another in P2 are self-isolating, as well as multiple staff members.

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Renfrewshire Council said they were required to isolate following NHS Test and Protect contact tracing.

A spokeswoman added: "This is due to Covid-19 cases linked to the school confirmed as being, or with the potential to be, the new Omicron variant.

"Following identification of cases, a further risk assessment was carried out by public health and environmental health teams and all appropriate health and safety measures were found to be robust.

"We have apologised to parents for any disruption and will keep them updated."

The decision to close was taken by Renfrewshire Council

In an email from the school, parents were asked to be vigilant for symptoms of Covid-19 and to isolate and book a PCR test as soon as possible if symptoms develop.

Scotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch said closing the school was "unfortunate but the right thing to do" as Covid rules across the UK changed last week.

It meant all contacts of new variant cases have to self-isolate, even if fully jabbed.

Prof Leitch said: "What we're trying to do is put a ring of steel around the small Omicron outbreaks to buy ourselves time to work out how bad Omicron is.

"Then we'll give definitive Omicron advice. Now if it turns out the Delta restrictions manage Omicron then we'll be able to go back to the normal isolation rules."

Meanwhile two primary schools in the Highlands were also impacted by recent outbreaks of the virus - though it is unclear if they are linked to Omicron.

Mallaig Primary School and its nurseries have closed and Lady Lovat Primary School in Morar is partially closed as staff members were identified as contacts.

A Highland Council spokesperson said: "The schools will contact parents and carers when they are ready to reopen and we would like to thank the affected school communities for their continued understanding and patience."

'Rapid increase'

Scotland announced its first cases of the new variant of concern, named Omicron, on 29 November.

Early indications from South Africa suggested it may be more transmissible than the Delta variant and it may carry an increased risk of reinfection.

Prof Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious diseases from the University of East Anglia, told the BBC the Omicron variant will probably become the UK's dominant Covid variant "within weeks".

Omicron "is spreading rather more quickly than the Delta variant", he said, pointing to a "rapid increase" is in cases in South Africa.

"How it's likely to spread in UK is still uncertain, but I think the early signs are it will probably spread quite quickly and probably start outcompeting Delta, and become the dominant variant probably within the next weeks or a month or so at least."

He also said the remaining question was how harmful this variant was.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had warned she expects to see "perhaps significantly more" Omicron cases.

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