The Scottish government has advised people to minimise socialising for Hogmanay amid record Covid cases.
All major Hogmanay events in Edinburgh have been cancelled, as have many other events in towns and cities across the country.
Scotland recorded its highest ever number of Covid cases on Thursday, with 16,857 cases confirmed.
Despite this, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the country could look forward to a “better and brighter new year ahead”.
But she said there was still a “very significant threat” posed by Omicron.
Sturgeon accepted that coronavirus restrictions meant that this was “not the Hogmanay we all wanted and hoped for”.
She said: “The Omicron variant is a very significant threat. It means that, at the moment, we need above all to keep each other safe.
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“We all need to stay at home, far more than we would want to at this time of year. And we have asked that you minimise new year socialising as much as you can.
“So this is not the Hogmanay we all wanted and hoped for. But I believe that we can still look ahead to 2022 with optimism.”
Isolation rules in Scotland remain at ten days, while the other UK nations have reduced this to seven days.
People living in Scotland have also been urged not to travel to England for new year celebrations to get away from the more stringent Covid-19 restrictions.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said travelling out of the country would go against the “spirit” of Scottish Covid-19 measures.
A UK government minister has said people were free to move around the UK over the new year festivities – at odds with Mr Swinney’s call for people not to travel to England.
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