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There will always be judgments to be made about the longevity of the testing arrangements. Obviously, there is financial provision in the budget for 2022-23 that enables some testing activity to be undertaken. I would have to clarify what specific guidance on that point was previously given to health boards, because that relates to an internal health portfolio transaction and advice, so I had better write to the committee about that specific point.

That said, I would not imagine that it was likely that commitments were given to that extent or to that degree of specificity. There might have been a commitment in respect of, say, the need for on-going testing—I would not be at all surprised by that—but I will check and write back to you to provide clarity on the point.

I am happy to look at that to see exactly how that can be resolved. We sometimes face competing medical opinions about the right thing to do. I will not give clinical advice, but I will ensure that the issue can be addressed.

Ministers have made clear to the Parliament on countless occasions that you can write to me about certification issues. Mr Fraser is welcome to write to me, and I will see that there is a resolution to that particular issue.

I unreservedly accept that there is a danger that people will become complacent about Covid. However, I want to assure the committee that the Government does not take that view. We have insisted on undertaking population-wide surveillance activity so that we are able to assess the general position on infection. Waste water sampling allows us to narrow that down to parts of the country and see where levels of infection are perhaps more intense. That can then inform outbreak management. We will still be active in that field. Some of the regulations that the committee will consider today are all about enabling us to undertake outbreak management. Without the regulations, we would not be able to do that as well as we should.

In addition, the risk-based approach to testing is part of the plan that the Government has issued.

For the absolute avoidance of doubt, lateral flow tests will remain free of charge.

Yes.

We think that that is the case because, as I said in my previous answers, we believe that we have passed the peak of the BA.2 variant. We see that in a number of respects, including in cases and hospital admissions. Although the numbers in hospital are high, they are not being added to with the same vigour as was the case previously. Provided that that pattern continues, I would content, in the face of the evidence that Mr Fairlie puts to me—I know that this is a contested proposition and not everyone agrees with us—that the Government has taken prudent steps to deal with that.

If, for example, we had gone ahead and removed the legal obligation for face coverings on Monday, I think that Mr Fairlie would have had legitimate additional questions to put to me. However, we took the decision that we did. It caused some controversy—a number of people are kicking off about it—but, in my view, it was the responsible thing for us to do in order to provide a bit more protection and to try to get the situation under control.

You have exaggerated by 50 per cent.

There is a fine judgment to be made. There is a question—Government has to wrestle with this at all times—regarding what constitutes proportionate action. If the prevalence of Covid was to reduce significantly in our society but we were still testing as if it was as virulent as it has been in recent weeks, I think that the Government would face some challenges as to the proportionality of our actions and requirements, and the use of public money, because there was not the community-wide prevalence that would justify a testing infrastructure of the type that we have had in place until now. That is why the risk-based assessment that is included in the transition plan is relevant for the judgments that we have made.

I am grateful to the committee for the opportunity to discuss a number of matters, including updates to Parliament on Covid-19.

As the First Minister set out on Tuesday, there has been a recent increase in cases driven by the BA.2 sub-lineage of the omicron variant. It is now the dominant strain in Scotland and accounts for more than 80 per cent of all reported cases.

Encouragingly, there is no evidence that BA.2 causes more severe illness than BA.1 or that it is more effective at evading natural immunity or immunity through vaccination. We continue to observe strong evidence that the link between infection and serious health harm has weakened considerably due to immune protection. Therefore, extension of the vaccination programme is on-going, in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advice.

Letters inviting five to 11-year-olds who are not in higher-risk groups for vaccination started arriving at the end of last week. Booster jags for older adults in care homes also started last week. Additional boosters for those who are immunosuppressed will start from mid-April.

As the First Minister announced, from Friday, and in line with other UK nations, all remaining Covid-related travel restrictions in Scotland will be lifted. Although we have some concerns about that, UK travel patterns mean that diverging from the rest of the UK would cause economic disadvantage without delivering any meaningful public health benefit.

From Monday 21 March—with one temporary exception—the remaining domestic legal measures will be lifted and replaced with appropriate guidance. That means that, on Monday, the requirement on businesses and service providers to retain customer contact details will end. So, too, will the requirement for businesses, places of worship and service providers to have regard to Scottish Government guidance on Covid and to take the reasonably practicable measures that are set out in the guidance. The exception relates to the requirement to wear face coverings on public transport and in certain indoor settings.

Given the current spike in case numbers, continued widespread use of face coverings will provide some additional protection, particularly for the most vulnerable, at a time when the risk of infection is very high, and it may help us to get over the spike more quickly. We will review it again in two weeks’ time.

The other issue that the First Minister covered on Tuesday was testing. For the next month, until Easter, there will be no change to our testing advice. However, from 18 April, with the exception of health and care settings, we will no longer advise people without symptoms to test twice weekly. From the end of April, all routine population-wide testing will end, and, from 1 May, instead of a population-wide approach, we will use testing on a targeted basis. That marks steady progress back towards normal life and a more sustainable way of managing the virus.

We will do everything we can to support those who have worked on the testing programme during the transition. I echo the First Minister’s gratitude and thank all of them for their invaluable contribution over the past two years.

I am happy to answer questions from the committee.