Professor Devi Sridhar, the chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, has given evidence at the UK Covid inquiry in Edinburgh
She was questioned about Twitter direct messages with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon between May and December 2020
In one exchange in June 2020, Prof Sridhar offers to share a draft of a note with Ms Sturgeon - but says she does not want to "overstep or break protocol"
Ms Sturgeon replies that Prof Sridhar can send it to her "privately" and/or officially - and says: "Don't worry about protocol"
She also told how she experienced death threats, racism and sexism while making media appearances during the pandemic
Scotland's National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch earlier told the inquiry that he did not literally delete his WhatsApp chats each evening
He said that a WhatsApp post - in which he said he deleted his messages as a "pre-bed ritual" - had been a "flippant exaggeration"
Prof Leitch also says he gave then Health Secretary Humza Yousaf advice on how to comply with the rules on mask wearing at a drinks reception in late 2021
Prof Sridhar agrees the Scottish government should have done more with the border and testing for maximum suppression of the virus.
She points out there was a lot of unused testing capacity.
There needed to be more cohesion and some consensus with England, Prof Sridhar adds.
Image source, PA MediaProf Sridhar points out vaccinations were showing promising results at this time.
In her mind they were so close to actually being able to eliminate the virus - the first strains were eliminated - but new strains were imported.
She says she may have made a mistake using the term "elimination" and should perhaps have used "maximum suppression".
The academic says she was saying there was a chance to avoid a winter lockdown.
Her elimination plan seemed feasible through extensive testing, borders and worrying about universites returning and she stresses the need for cohesion across the four nations.
"When the winter wave came and the winter lockdown, the numbers went up, it was predictable and it was really depressing."
In January 2021 the vaccine was rolled out and she says she thought how many people could have lived if Scotland had delayed infection by two months.
Image source, Getty ImagesProf Sridhar says she was "frustrated with not understanding England's strategy" because the nations are linked together.
She tells the inquiry that she and Ms Sturgeon discussed the difficulty of getting consensus with England in the summer of 2020.
"It seemed to me so clear that given the levels of immunity, the level of death, given that we didn't want to have another lockdown which was catastrophic... why you wouldn't go for maximum suppression?"
"I really felt we should have consensus because it seemed clear to me what should be the steps going forward," the academic adds.
Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesIt now seems inevitable that the Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will be asked about the use of her SNP email address when she appears before the inquiry next week.
The revelation that she gave both her government and party email addresses to Professor Devi Sridhar so she could share draft policies directly with her, rather than through official government channels, will be of interest to her critics.
The fact that the same direct message on Twitter tells the academic not to worry about protocol as tackling the virus is "more important" is also open to interpretation.
When she had a policy document to share, Prof Sridhar says she was worried about overstepping the mark in what she disclosed to Ms Sturgeon.
"In some ways I am new to how things are run here and didn't want to be seen as breaking some sort of rule," the American says.
In Twitter direct messages shown at the inquiry Ms Sturgeon says: "Don't worry about protocol".
The then first minister adds "tackling the virus more important than that".
Ms Sturgeon also says she would "handle any issues on that front".
She then gives the professor her personal SNP email address and mobile number.
Jamie Dawson KC says this was the time of the Four Harms strategy coming to the fore.
He says in May the Scottish government set out its route map to emerge from lockdown.
Prof Sridhar says in one of the messages with the first minister "England is going a dangerous path on Monday" by easing the restrictions too fast.
She says it felt England was trying to lift restrictions too quickly and it was worrying.
The academic accepts she thought Scotland should proceed more cautiously than England.
Records of telephone conversations with Ms Sturgeon were not kept by Prof Sridhar, she tells the inquiry.
She says they were "not quite casual" but talking about research papers and questioning ideas.
"And sometimes, this is where the comment about the personal trainer came in, about mental health - how are you coping, this is really difficult - and that's when I talked about exercise," Prof Sridhar adds.
Sturgeon asked about what countries around the world were doing and whether it was working, she says.
Prof Sridhar tells the inquiry she only met Nicola Sturgeon twice and both were formal meetings that were logged in government buildings.
At one of the meetings she says she joked with the former first minister about getting exercise and becoming her personal trainer.
The academic clarifies nothing came of this joke and they did not have any sessions in the park.
Prof Sridhar explains she did lots of interviews at this time and it became really tricky to balance being in the advisory group and trying to do media work.
Prof Sridhar says she was not in any WhatsApp groups and explains why she gave her direct Twitter messages, that were relevant, to the inquiry.
The expert says she and the former first minister did not use WhatsApp and confirms she has submitted all her tweets and e-mails.
The academic adds they also kept in touch via phone.
Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent
Image source, PA MediaThe inquiry has heard a lot about borders.
While the Scottish government doesn't have the power over immigration, it does control public health.
Professor Devi Sridhar earlier made the point that closing borders could not have been done in isolation.
She argued that you would need a cohesive approach or a joint strategy across three countries on one island.
Professor Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, will now continue to give evidence.
The inquiry will then hear from Professor Andrew Morris, the professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
Prof Sridhar explains she had similar relationships with a number of politicians in the UK and around the world.
She says: "It is not unusual, especially through the pandemic, to have direct access to someone senior who just says 'tell me how you see it'."
The academic adds Nicola Sturgeon did not try to influence what she said and she told her "forget about the politics".
She says she never expected her messages to be made public as they were informal and private.
Anything of "concrete importance" went through an official route, she adds.
There will now be a lunch break until 13:45.
Image source, Getty ImagesProf Sridhar is asked to detail her role in Scotland's response to the pandemic, and as a member of Scotland's Covid advisory group.
She writes in her book she spoke regularly to Ms Sturgeon and developed a close working relationship with her,
Prof Sridhar adds Ms Sturgeon agreed to be her first client when she became a personal trainer.
Jamie Dawson KC asks about her direct access to the first minister.
Prof Sridhar says: "We both shared a deep commitment to finding a good way through this."
She adds that she has similar relationships with a number of politicians in the UK and abroad, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Prof Sridhar says Ms Sturgeon "reached out to her for an independent view".
The expert adds the first minister was also getting advice from lots of people including Professors Gregor Smith and Jason Leitch.
Image source, Getty ImagesProf Sridhar says other countries moved much quicker in adopting face coverings.
She adds the UK spent too long debating whether masks worked, when it was known they did.
There was not enough masks at the time with some staff in hospitals being unable to get them, she says.
Prof Sridhar adds we should have had a healthy debate on how we reached the guidance on whether masks work.
"The PPE was a huge issue," she adds.
"The challenge at the start was a logistical challenge and not a scientific challenge."
Prof Sridhar says: "The biggest issue was how do you get tests?"
There was mixed messaging between "don't worry everything's fine to panic", she says.
The expert tells the inquiry face masks, if used appropriately, are one of the most effective tools that can be used.
Image source, Getty ImagesProf Sridhar explains other countries started looking at how to test in January 2020.
Britain and therefore Scotland was always catching up, she adds.
Prof Sridhar explains: "There was that thing that testing is for poor countries, we have a health service".
Prof Sridhar says Sage - the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies - was incredibly secretive but in the case of a pandemic transparency would have been better.
"When the [UK] government said 'we are following the science, we are following Sage', I didn't know who was on Sage, what they had advised, what evidence they had," she tells the inquiry.
That presented a problem with the science being reserved, because they did not know why the UK was recommending the virus should be allowed to spread.
It was not just scientists in Scotland who were confused, she adds.
"Every country in the world was saying, what is Britain doing, what do they know?"
Image source, PA MediaProf Sridhar says Britain should have been testing earlier to identify cases and clusters.
And she says positive cases should have been quarantined before community transmission of the Covid virus began.
She says her research team had compared country policies.
Norway and Australia said they managed pandemic better because they limited border entry, Prof Sridhar says.
But she adds Britain was on "the relaxed side" of controlling borders.
Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent
Image source, PAMany parents will have found home-schooling a challenge during the Covid pandemic.
But it looks like the policy of closing schools during any future outbreaks will be reconsidered.
Professor Jason Leitch was asked if the schools policy was wrong.
He explained that while in the main children were not seriously ill with the virus, closing schools was about limiting their ability to spread it.
It was also about protecting staff, families and the broader community.
However he said that did not take into account the missed educational opportunities and admitted, given what we know now, a different decision might be made in the future.
Image source, PA MediaProf Sridhar explains one difficulty is that Scotland has to work through the UK to get in a discussion with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN).
That means Scotland's scientific advisers are so important because of their knowledge and connections around the world, she says.
She adds the country moved too quickly from containment to mitigation, given other countries were showing containment was possible without strict lockdowns.
The academic explains countries like South Korea, Norway, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Australia were making containment work.
Jamie Dawson KC puts it to Prof Sridhar that as Scottish health problems are mostly chronic illness, public health staff are largely working on those issues.
These include smoking, alcohol and heart disease.
He asks if switching priority is difficult?
Prof Sridhar says it is, but adds it is also "difficult conceptually" when people have not lived through a pandemic before.
"That's why a lot of people said 'is it like flu?' Because that is the infectious disease that kills the most people here every winter," she says.
The near miss of swine flu also led to a sense of complacency and a fear of over reaction, she adds.
"If you have a lot of near misses it's a bit like the boy who cried wolf, why would you believe the next one," Prof Sridhar says.
"Most viruses and diseases are contained locally."