NICOLA Sturgeon will today deliver an urgent Covid-19 statement to a recalled Holyrood as the Army is deployed in parts of the UK to help with the mass roll-out of the new Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

The First Minister will chair an emergency session of the Scottish Cabinet to consider even stronger measures before addressing MSPs this afternoon after expressing “very serious concerns” at the rising rate of infections caused by the variant of the coronavirus.

In the last 24 hours, there has been an increase of 2,464 new Covid-19 cases in Scotland, up on Saturday’s figure of 2,137 additional cases. The daily test positivity rate is now at 15.2%, up from 10.8% on Saturday.

Across the UK, the number of new infections was 54,990, the sixth day running that it has been over 50,000. Some 454 more deaths were recorded, pushing the UK total over 75,000. No further deaths were recorded in Scotland on Sunday as the register offices are closed over the public holidays.

Tougher anti-Covid measures could include the possibility that the return of Scottish schools, due on January 18, could be pushed back to the end of the month.

Yesterday, a sombre-looking Boris Johnson took to the airwaves to warn people in England that he was “fully reconciled” to a probable tightening of the anti-Covid measures south of the border. He did so as the UK Government was embroiled in a row over when schools should return there.

Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer accused the Prime Minister of presiding over “chaos,” insisted the virus was now “out of control” and called for a new national lockdown within 24 hours. “Do it now,” he declared.

Earlier, Ms Sturgeon took to Twitter to announce she was seeking the recall of the Scottish Parliament from its Christmas recess to discuss the grave situation.

She explained: “The rapid increase in Covid cases, driven by the new variant, is of very serious concern.

“The steep increases and severe NHS pressure being experienced in other parts of the UK is a sign of what may lie ahead. So, we must take all steps to slow spread while vaccination progresses.

“We, like other countries, are in a race between this faster spreading strain of Covid and the vaccination programme. As we work to vaccinate as quickly as possible, we must also do more to slow down the virus – to save lives and help the NHS care for all those who need it.”

She added: “All decisions just now are tough, with tough impacts. Vaccines give us a way out but this new strain makes the period between now and then the most dangerous since start of pandemic.

“So, the responsibility of government must be to act quickly and decisively in the national interest.”

The FM, noting how the virus was a “real threat to life and health” and, if unchecked, would damage the economy too, again made a strong plea to the public to “stay at home as much as possible and avoid non- essential interactions with other households”.

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Johnson signalled that tougher measures were on their way for parts of England, a majority of which is already in the highest tier 4.

He said: “It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country; I’m fully, fully reconciled to that. There are obviously a range of tougher measures that that we would have to consider.

“I’m not going to speculate now about what they would be but I’m sure that all our viewers and our listeners will understand what the sort of things…clearly, school closures, which we had to do in March is one of those things.”

The PM hailed the prospect of the roll-out of vaccines, which were “coming down the track in their tens of millions and that is something that should keep people going in what I predicted, back on your show in in October, will be a very bumpy period right now. It is bumpy and it’s going to be bumpy,” he declared.

But Sir Keir was scathing in what he regards as the Conservative Government’s dilatory response.

“We can’t allow the Prime Minister to use up the next two or three weeks and then bring in a national lockdown which is inevitable. Do it now. That’s the necessary first step to get the virus back under control,” insisted the Labour leader.

He went on: “The Prime Minister is hinting at it but he’s not doing it. We can’t afford that delay again. Let’s not have the Prime Minister saying: ‘I’m going to do it but not yet.’ That’s the problem he has made so many times.

“Nationwide lockdown; the Prime Minister has hinted that that’s going to happen but he’s delaying again.”

As a row raged over when primary schoolchildren should return to their classrooms in England, Mr Johnson called on parents to send theirs to school which will open this week, insisting they were safe and education was a priority.

But teaching unions intensified their calls for schools to stay closed given the rampant spread of the virus.

Sir Keir noted: “I don’t want to call for the closure of schools tomorrow morning and add to the chaos but we do need to recognise that it is inevitable that more schools will close and we need a plan in place to deal with it.

“But it can only be part of a wider strategy that has a national lockdown in place in the next 24 hours,” he added.

Meanwhile, people across the UK will start to receive the first doses of the home-produced Astra-Zeneca vaccine.

More than half a million doses will be available from today with tens of millions more to be delivered in the coming weeks and months once batches have been quality checked by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

More than 730 vaccination sites have already been established across the UK and hundreds more are opening this week to take the total to more than 1,000.

“I am delighted today we are rolling out the Oxford vaccine; a testament to British science,” declared Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary for England.

“This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this awful virus and I hope it provides renewed hope to everybody that the end of this pandemic is in sight.

“Through its vaccine delivery plan the NHS is doing everything it can to vaccinate those most at risk as quickly as possible and we will rapidly accelerate our vaccination programme.

“While the most vulnerable are immunised, I urge everybody to continue following the restrictions so we can keep cases down and protect our loved ones,” he added.

High street chains Tesco and Boots have offered to help with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccines.

It is hoped that by start of spring in March some 15 million jabs will have been given, the point at which it is suggested the country can begin to escape the damaging waves of restrictions.

Elsewhere, the Ministry of Defence highlighted how more than 5,000 Armed Forces personnel were now being deployed in support of the Covid response in the “biggest homeland operation in peacetime”.

Some 1,500 military personnel are engaged in schools testing with other teams providing support in the roll-out of the vaccine inoculation programme.

In Scotland, Armed Forces personnel have been supporting healthcare professionals to deliver testing at Glasgow Airport while RAF Puma helicopters were deployed to Kinloss Barracks in Moray to provide emergency assistance to NHS boards and trusts across Scotland.

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: “The new year will see new levels of Armed Forces’ support to overcoming this pandemic. Thousands of service personnel are working throughout the United Kingdom, wherever they are needed to assist the civil authorities.

“Manchester is the latest of those tasks and will be an important contribution to protecting the highest risk groups as the city seeks to recover. As a North West MP I am acutely aware of the considerable time many of us have been labouring under some form of lockdown and I hope our soldiers will help us get to the day when these restrictions will start to lift.”