The requirement to wear face masks on public transport, in shops and other enclosed public spaces will remain in place in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has said, as a sharp increase in cases driven by the Omicron sub-variant prompted her government to delay scrapping the measure entirely. With all legal restrictions due to end in Scotland on 21 March , Sturgeon told MSPs she needed to “ask everyone to be patient for a little while longer on face coverings”. She said this would be reviewed in a further two weeks and she expected the law – which has been in place since June 2020 – to be converted into guidance in early April, if there is evidence that the current spike in cases has stabilised. “I know this will be disappointing for businesses and service providers such as day care services”, Sturgeon said, but added that retaining the protection was “very much in the spirit of solidarity and mutual concerns to each other that has characterised the public response to this pandemic over the past two years.”. She told the Holyrood chamber that a spike in infections was putting “significant pressure on hospital capacity”, although vaccines were still giving people good protection. The average number of new cases reported each day in Scotland is more than 12,000, up from an average of 6,900 per day three weeks ago, with the BA.2 variant of Omicron accounting for more than 80% of cases. There has also been a rise in the number of people in hospital with Covid, from 1,060 three weeks ago to 1,996 on Tuesday. But Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, said the retention of face coverings was “a blow for households and businesses” and that Sturgeon should trust the Scottish public to make their own decisions to keep their families safe. “We can’t get complacent with Covid, but we need to move forward– we can’t stay stuck with Covid rules for ever.” Sturgeon said: “The increase in cases over the past three weeks has been driven by the BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant, which is estimated to be significantly more transmissible – with a growth rate since mid-February perhaps 80% greater than original Omicron. “BA.2 is now our dominant strain, accounting for more than 80% of all reported cases. BA.2 has become dominant in Scotland earlier than in England and Wales, hence the more rapid increase in cases here than south of the border in recent weeks – although cases and hospital admissions are now rising sharply again in England too.”