NICOLA Sturgeon stressed the importance of taking "careful, cautious and responsible decisions" in dealing with the pandemic as she pointed to Dominic Cummings' evidence about the consequences of not doing so.

The First Minister put Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross on the back foot when he asked her about when she was going to ease restrictions in Glasgow, which is still on level 3 after an increase in Covid cases in the city amid the emergence of a new more infectious variant.

Cummings described to MPs the chaotic and slow nature of decision making in Downing Street over the handling of the pandemic, claiming tens of thousands of people had died from the disease in the UK unnecessarily.

READ MORE: Cummings declares Johnson unfit to lead and says Hancock should have been fired

The Prime Minister's former chief aide told how Johnson dismissed Covid as a scare story and refused to heed warnings about not locking down earlier in March last year.

He also told how key figures in government were enjoying skiing holidays abroad while other countries in the world were closing their borders and introducing trace quarantine systems.The National:

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her deputy John Swinney pictured today in the Holyrood chamber. 

His dramatic account was delivered to MPs on a joint select committee yesterday, some 24 hours before the first First Minister's Questions of the new parliament and Ross's first as Scottish Tory leader. 

In her answer to Ross about easing restrictions in Glasgow, Sturgeon referred to the evidence Cummings had given.

"As we know from bitter experience over this pandemic it is often the failure to take quick and firm decisions that leads to loss of life.

"And anybody who is in any doubt about that would only have to listen to a fraction of what Dominic Cummings outlined and what he described as the 'chaotic' response of the UK Government at key moments in the pandemic," she said.

"I will continue to try to take difficult decisions as well as I possibly can."

She added that there was a range of business support in place.

Sturgeon's reference to Cummings annoyed Ross.

The Tory MSP replied: "I'm sure there will be plenty of time for your backbenchers' scripted questions to answer about Dominic Cummings. I want to focus on what is happening in Scotland's largest city and the impact that is having on business in our communities as Glasgow has been under restrictions for 269 days."

Sturgeon replied that she and her government were working to support businesses but to do so "careful, cautions and responsible" decision making was needed in the face of the deadly virus.

"I was also pointing out with reference to some of what we heard yesterday of the impact and implications will be if a leader does not take careful, cautions and responsible decisions. And I think most people across the country understand the seriousness of the point I was making.

READ MORE: Dominic Cummings: Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid on live TV

"Why is that relevant and not deflective? We are still in the face of this pandemic and it remains important that we take those careful decisions."

She began First Minister's Questions on Thursday by saying there have been 464 new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, representing 1.8% of all tests taken.

The National:

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross at First Minister's Questions today.

Sturgeon said the Scottish Government wants to get Glasgow back on track "as quickly as possible, but that's got to be done responsibly and safely".

She said: "We see a reduction in hospital cases today, and a small reduction in ICU cases, so there are reasons to be optimistic there, but we've got to continue - in the interest of business and in the interest of everybody - to take careful and cautious decisions to get the whole country back to normality."

When challenged by Ross that Glasgow has now been under lockdown restrictions for 269 days, the First Minister replied: "I know how long the city of Glasgow has been under restrictions because unlike him I am a resident of the city of Glasgow so these restrictions apply to me just as they apply to others.

READ MORE: Ian Blackford fires back at Dominic Cummings over dig at Nicola Sturgeon

"I know how difficult it is for residents and businesses across Glasgow but I also know how dangerous it would be if we eased restrictions too quickly and allowed a new variant of this virus, that we know is spreading perhaps even more quickly than the variant at the start of the year, to take a grip again.

"That's why there are the public health interventions under way across Glasgow right now... I said earlier in the week we see cautious signs for optimism that that is working, and we will continue to monitor that very carefully."

As part of those measures, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has called on people living in the south of Glasgow aged 40 or over to visit a Covid-19 vaccination drop-in centre running at the Gurdwara in Pollokshields.

The centre is open from 11am to 6.30pm on Thursday and offers first doses or a second to those due to have it in the next eight to 12 weeks.

Two hundred appointments are available on a first come, first served basis.

While Glasgow remains in Level 3, an incident management team which was set up in Moray due to an outbreak there has now been closed with testing advice returning to normal.

Moray moved from Level 3 to Level 2 restrictions last weekend.

Cummings told MPs yesterday: "The truth is is that senior ministers, senior officials and senior advisers like me fell disastrous short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this.

"When the public needed us most the government failed and I would like to say to all the families who died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and my own mistakes at that."

Among his dramatic evidence to MPs, delivered over seven hours, Cummings said he had "mounting panic" about the response to coronavirus in early March last year and warned the Prime Minister on March 12 that there were "big problems coming" if self-isolation measures were not announced immediately.

However, he said Downing Street was more preoccupied that day with a story about the Prime Minister and his fiancee Carrie Symonds' dog, Dilyn.