Nicola Sturgeon is facing further demands to announce the easing of restrictions after her own Government’s analysis of the pandemic admitted that Scotland’s Covid rate is higher than England’s.

The Scottish Government’s weekly state of the epidemic report said on average Scotland had 2,824 cases per million people in the week to Jan 6, compared with 2,615 in England.

England also had a much lower rate than Wales (3,481), the report said, despite Boris Johnson refusing to follow the tough restrictions imposed by Ms Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford, the Welsh First Minister, on hospitality and large events.

A second Scottish Government report disclosing the latest modelling of the pandemic showed that the omicron wave in Scotland is expected to peak this week, with cases then dropping rapidly.

The analysis said daily infections would peak at around 70,000 on Thursday or Friday this week before tumbling to around 20,000 by the end of the month.

This is much earlier than predictions made by Humza Yousaf, the Health Secretary, and Prof Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, who said the omicron “tsunami” would not peak until late January or early February.

The two Scottish Government reports were published ahead of a parliamentary statement on Tuesday by Ms Sturgeon, in which she is expected to announce whether any of her restrictions will be lifted next week.

The First Minister has said they will remain in place until at least next Monday. Warnings that the NHS is facing the toughest period in its history, with hundreds of staff being forced to self-isolate, may see her keep them in place for longer.

But Ms Sturgeon admitted last week she was rethinking her strategy for tackling Covid as omicron’s increased transmissibility meant restrictions were less effective at curtailing its spread.