Sturgeon had 'tighter cast list' on some Covid decisions - Humza Yousaf

1. First Minister Humza Yousaf, who gave evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry, was a health secretary during the later part of the pandemic
2. On his first day in the health role, National Clinical Director Jason Leitch sent Yousaf a message saying: "There was some FM 'keep it small' shenanigans as always. She actually wants none of us."
3. The FM told the inquiry that that was an example of Leitch "over speaking", however, on specific issues Nicola Sturgeon wanted a "tighter cast list" when it came to decision making
4. In the morning session, the hearing saw messages written by Sturgeon which said former PM Boris Johnson was utterly incompetent and a "[expletive] clown"
5. The former FM's view came in an exchange she had with her then chief of staff Liz Lloyd who gave evidence to the inquiry
6. Lloyd said she was the Scottish first minister's "thought partner" during the pandemic and that in her government role she was a sounding board and helped "stress test" ideas
7. The inquiry will be in Scotland again next week with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon due to give her evidence

Thanks for joining us

That brings our coverage of today's Covid inquiry session to a close. There's plenty more for you to read on the matter here:

• To read more about the messages shown to the inquiry in which Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson a "clown", look here
• To find out if Sturgeon was just following WhatsApp guidelines by hitting delete, read this
• And to find out why the UK Covid Inquiry is in Scotland, click here

Today's writers were Craig Hutchison, Claire Diamond, Katy Scott and Jacqueline Howard. The editors were Paul McLaren and Emily McGarvey.

Sturgeon called Johnson a "clown" in an expletive-laden text

What did Humza Yousaf say at the Covid inquiry?

UK Covid-19 Inquiry

We've just heard evidence from First Minister Humza Yousaf at the UK Covid Inquiry. Here's a reminder of the key points from the session:

• Humza Yousaf offered an unreserved apology to the inquiry and the public over the Scottish government's handling of informal messages, saying the government should have done better
• The first minister denied asking for a workaround of the Covid rules about face masks during the pandemic
• He'd been advised by National Clinical Director Jason Leitch to keep a drink in his hand at all times at a dinner to remain "exempt" from mask rules
• Yousaf replied that he didn't just double check the rules but "quadruple checked"
• Yousaf also told the inquiry he used personal phones rather than a government device for WhatsApp messages during the pandemic
• Yousaf said he deleted messages, but was able to recover some from an old handset which he handed over to the inquiry
• The first minister said he was sometimes "deeply frustrated" with the UK government over handling of restrictions
• Yousaf confirmed there will be an external review into the use of WhatsApp and non-corporate technology within the Scottish government

Scotland wanted to align with UK on identifying symptoms - FM

Mitchell asks the first minister why the UK health security agency identified the core Covid symptoms instead of Scotland doing this itself, as health is a devolved matter.

Yousaf says the Scottish government was keen to have alignment with the rest of the UK in this area in order to make the symptoms more simple to understand unless clinical advisers strongly objected.

He says the decision would always be based on clinical advice, as opposed to a ministerial decision.

Care home testing should have started earlier - Yousaf

Claire Mitchell KC, representing Scottish Covid Bereaved, refers to a document which highlights care home transmission during the pandemic.

Mitchell asks Humza Yousaf to identify when he knew a-symptomatic transfer of Covid was possible.

He says it was known as a possibility early on from international academic journals.

In his view, he believes testing of those going from hospital into care homes should have started earlier.

WhatsApp review will not see deleted messages

Yousaf confirms that there will be an external review into the use of WhatsApp and non-corporate technology within the Scottish government.

He made the announcement earlier today during First Minister's Questions.

In his final question to the first minister, Dawson asks if the review will have access to WhatsApp messages which have been destroyed by ministers and senior officials, and Yousaf says it will not.

Yousaf: 'We have lost the dressing room'

Jamie Dawson KC quotes Humza Yousaf from his messages in which he says the government had asked a lot of the public, but "we have lost the dressing room on this one".

Dawson asks if this exchange shows the Scottish government had lost the faith of the Scottish people such that the virus was able to run rampant without control.

"No, that is not the interpretation, the interpretation is that we have, as we say in the exchange, we have asked a lot of the public."

The first minister says never in his life could he have imagined being required to effectively keep people under lockdown. "This was the biggest decision I think a government ever made in recent times."

He says neither the government nor the public were to blame.

Inquiry session finishes

The Covid inquiry session has now finished and First Minister Humza Yousaf has completed his evidence.

Stay with us as we bring you more quotes, analysis and reaction to what he said.

Fewer cases linked to Scotland Euro events - Yousaf

Yousaf tells the inquiry that a smaller proportion of positive Covid cases were linked to the Glasgow fan zone and Hampden matches, compared to Euro football events in London.

He says that in a week where 1,191 people reported testing positive after travelling to one or more Euro events during their infectious period, nearly two thirds had travelled to London for a Euro-related event.

But he says only 55 cases were linked to the Glasgow fan zone that week.

Reports showed that 38 cases were linked to the Scotland v Croatia match and 37 were linked to the Scotland v Czech Republic match, which were both held at Hampden.

He says this shows that mitigations put in place at these events were “fairly effective”.

Yousaf told to 'keep fingers crossed' after Euros Covid spike

Dawson points to a message Leitch sent to Yousaf about the European football championships.

In them, he refers to Scotland's case numbers, suggesting to Yousaf that he "keep [his] fingers crossed it is a temporary Euros phenomenon".

The inquiry KC asks if by this stage in the pandemic they were relying on instinct and luck to see them through the crisis.

Yousaf refutes this and says as the health secretary, he always pushed for the hardest and fastest restrictions.

Yousaf says having Euros fan zone was 'right decision'

Following on from our last post, Yousaf tells the inquiry if you did not have the highly regulated space of the fan zone, where hand sanitising and one-way systems were in place, the fear was people would got to pubs or other people's homes where regulation wouldn't be so tough.

The first minister explains the message shows this was not an easy decision to make, but he adds "ultimately the right decision was made".

He says they had to consider what the implications of not having the fan zone would be.

Concerns around Covid and football fan zones raised

Dawson goes on to ask the first minister about decisions around Covid rules for large-scale events, including fan zones for the Euros football championships and COP26.

In messages to National Clinical Director Jason Leitch, Yousaf said it would be best to keep Glasgow in Level 3 Covid restrictions for as long as possible before the first game.

He voiced concerns around cases increasing due to fans socialising while watching games, warning that "we will lose the dressing room" if the fan zone at Glasgow Green is scrapped.

In the messages, Leitch responds: “So more testing. Case finding. Exactly what we want. As Trump said, the problem with you public health idiots is if you do tests you find disease.”

At the inquiry, Yousaf says the exchange shows that there was an understanding that this was "not an easy call".

Postponing elective surgery wasn't an easy decision - Yousaf

Humza Yousaf says no-one took the decision to postpone elective surgery in Scotland easily during the pandemic.

He acknowledges that there was undoubtedly huge non-Covid harm caused in doing so.

This also had an impact on waiting lists, he adds.

'The vaccination was a game changer' - FM

Humza Yousaf tells the inquiry the government was also alive and alert to all non-Covid harms.

Jamie Dawson KC turns to the evidence given by Prof Devi Sridhar, the chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, and says her role was diminished after the vaccine was rolled out.

"The vaccination was a game changer," says the first minister.

Recovery phase was still a health emergency, says Yousaf

Dawson asks the first minister why this part of the pandemic, the third wave, was described as a recovery phase and not an emergency phase.

He says there were eight times as many infections as the first wave and almost 5,000 deaths.

In his response, Yousaf says the emergency phase was when the virus first arrived in the UK and the government had to consider its first interventions.

He tells the inquiry that the "recovery phase" was still a health emergency in the NHS and the health service was still facing the most pressure it had ever faced.

He says he didn't think the NHS had had a more difficult winter in its history.

'Perfect storm' led to hospitals being overwhelmed - FM

UK Covid Inquiry

During the third wave of the virus, huge increases in case numbers were seen in Scotland which led to almost as many deaths as had occurred in each of the first two waves, Dawson says.

Recalling hospitals starting to become overwhelmed, the KC asks why this was allowed to happen.

Yousaf says it was a "perfect storm" of factors - the highly transmissible variant, the opening up of society, some other respiratory viruses and other peak pressures that the NHS faces in the winter.

Yousaf says Omicron put extreme pressures on hospitals

The lead counsel for the inquiry says Humza Yousaf's period as health secretary was characterised by a huge increases in positive cases at the peak of the Omicron wave.

The first minister says Omicron was far more transmissible and there was extreme pressures on Scotland's hospitals.

At some points the R number - the rate at which Covid was transmitted - was above the rest of the UK and sometimes it was below, he says.

Yousaf calls Scottish Police Federation 'a disgrace' in message

The inquiry is shown messages between ex-deputy first minister John Swinney and Humza Yousaf about the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) during the pandemic.

In response to Swinney saying he has “just caught up with the latest insight into SPF thinking”, Yousaf writes: “They're [sic] a disgrace. Right through this pandemic they have shown an arrogance and retrograde thinking. Chief was livid last night.”

Yousaf tells the inquiry he was just expressing his frustrations in a private message to a colleague, adding: “Sometimes when you are venting those private frustration to a colleagues, you use language you regret.”

He says he had a good relationship with the SPF but they would occasionally have robust disagreements.

He says he did not feel they were being supportive of officers enforcing Covid regulations who were "absolutely integral to our public health efforts".

Government ensured wide understanding of regulations - FM

The first minister tells the inquiry that the government's regular media briefings were important to assist public understanding of the Covid regulations.

Humza Yousaf says information was sent out from the government and Police Scotland to ensure "as wide an understanding" as possible of the regulations.

He agrees that rules and guidance should be "as clear as they could be".

'I never asked for a workaround' - Yousaf

Continuing with the questioning on face masks (see our previous post), Dawson asks the first minister if he was concerned about Leitch's assertion that no one was following the rules.

Yousaf replies that it's Leitch's style of "over-speaking".

Asked by the KC whether Leitch was giving him a loophole in the rules, Yousaf says he never asked for a workaround and in any case he doesn't think this is a workaround.

Yousaf pressed on 'workaround' to mask wearing rules

UK Covid Inquiry

Dawson turns to WhatsApp messages where the national clinical director advised Humza Yousaf to keep a drink in his hands at all times to remain "exempt" from mask rules at a dinner, the UK Covid Inquiry has heard.

He refers to the messages between Prof Jason Leitch and the then health secretary.

The message shows Prof Leitch telling Yousaf "literally no-one" followed official guidance about wearing a mask when not seated at dinner and denied giving him a "workaround".

Dawson asks if Yousaf had to ask for clarification, what chance did others have in trying to understand the rules.

Yousaf says "I didn't just double check the rules, I triple checked, I quadruple checked the rules because of the intensity of the public scrutiny we were under".