HALIFAX - Holiday gatherings and nearly every other potential encounter between now and January 12 are about to get considerably smaller. 

Five days after imposing new social-distancing and gathering-limit rules across the province to deal with a rise in daily COVID-19 cases, with the grand majority of these confirmed to be linked to the Omicron variant, Nova Scotia has reduced its indoor and outdoor informal gathering limit to 10 people from the same household or consistent social group. This figure sat at 25 people only 10 hours ago. 

As well, retail outlets, restaurants and licensed establishments can only open to 50 per cent capacity, with a maximum of 10 people per table allowed at restaurants and licensed establishments. With Christmas looming, faith gatherings are also under stricter conditions, including a 50 per cent capacity limit and the banning of choirs and congregational singing for the time being. 

"This is not the holiday you expected - this is not the holiday anybody expected," Premier Houston told Nova Scotians from his office in Pictou County, where he confirmed that he has already contacted his own mother to tell her he will not be able to visit her for Christmas dinner this year. 

According to Nova Scotia's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Robert Strang, the tightened restrictions were necessary after it became clear that new rules announced last week were not going to be enough to corral the Omicron variant, which has played a key role in daily reported cases climbing from an average of 100 only two weeks ago to a new provincial high of 522 on Tuesday. 

"We are going backward," said Dr. Strang, who accepted personal responsibility for the recent spike in cases and pledged that Nova Scotia would be overhauling its testing strategies for COVID-19 within the coming days. 

The Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) also confirmed Tuesday afternoon that two COVID-19 outbreaks of "less than five people" have occurred at each of St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish and the Halifax Infirmary section of the QEII Health Sciences Centre. In each case, the NSHA reported that it is testing identified close contacts, and testing will be made available for all staff and doctors on site who want to get tested.