Humza Yousaf has refused to rule out another lockdown this winter if Covid deaths begin to mount.
In his first interview as Health Secretary, the MSP insisted the country is on track to remove most pandemic restrictions on August 9 despite “exponential growth” in Delta variant cases.
However, Yousaf warned the emergence of a new vaccine-resistant strain could derail the return to normal life.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail, the SNP minister also:
● Revealed there is no date set to end the wearing of face masks in public places.
● Apologised for more than 3000 deaths in care homes and accepted discharging untested Covid patients from hospitals had been a mistake.
● Refused to back a Scotland-specific public inquiry – instead calling for a “four nations approach” with a panel of judges including one from Scotland.
● Denied the “preposterous” suggestion the Scottish Government had been in lockstep with Westminster on pandemic policy.
● Admitted society would have to learn to live with Covid deaths in the future without locking down.
Yousaf, 36, who replaced Jeane Freeman as Health Secretary after the May election, said: “Cases are going up – we’re very much in the midst of a third wave, there is no two ways about it.
“The tool we have now is the vaccination programme and we hope to have every adult double dosed by the end of September.
“We know this is weakening the link between rising cases and hospitalisations. I would hope in that context there will not be the need to impose further restrictions like a lockdown in the winter.
“The giant caveat, however, is I can’t tell you with certainty there won’t be a variant that comes into the country that will be immune to the vaccine.
“If you are asking me for a cast-iron guarantee that isn’t going to happen in the winter, I couldn’t give you that.”
The former justice secretary admitted there is no plans to end rules on face masks. He added: “I hate wearing them, I wear glasses and I still haven’t figured out how to stop my glasses steaming up.
“It is irritating, nobody enjoys it, but I can’t tell you a date when it will stop because I would be plucking it out of the air. But on the August date, as things stand despite the rising case numbers, we’re confident of meeting that.”
The Scottish Government has been heavily criticised for the disastrous policy of discharging Covid patients into care homes – a practice first revealed by the Sunday Mail in April last year.
The policy is believed to have added to more than 3000 deaths in homes over the course of the pandemic.
Yousaf said: “You won’t hear it from me that we got everything right. That is why a public inquiry is so important.
“I am deeply sorry for anyone who has been affected by Covid, and particularly those in care homes.
“I can’t imagine what it is like, quite frankly. I have read some powerful testimony in the Sunday Mail which has championed rights for those people.
“I am not so proud that I can’t apologise where mistakes may well have been made.One thing which has to be investigated is how we dealt with hospital discharges to care homes.
“However, I remember very vividly the presentation we got from then chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood at the beginning of the pandemic, and the numbers in relation to hospitalisations were terrifying.
"There was immediate pressure on the Government to free up space – we didn’t know then what we know now about the impacts of a pandemic on a care home setting.
“If we had known that then, I think we would have taken a slightly different decision.”
Yousaf, however, refused to back a Scotland-specific public inquiry, instead supporting a “four nations approach”.
He said: “I would be keen to look at whether there is merit in having a panel of judges, one from each of the devolved nations, rather than a single judge.”
Yousaf rejected the accusation Sturgeon consistently followed UK Government policy on the pandemic – while trying to beat Westminster to announcements.
Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings has accused the First Minister of “blabbing” after confidential meetings.
But Yousaf added: “The suggestion the First Minster is in lockstep with the UK Government is frankly preposterous.
“We have also been told we were too cautious so we have not always done things on a four nations basis.”
In a sign the Government is keen to avoid future lockdowns to control outbreaks, Yousaf added: “We can’t ever be comfortable with or minimise deaths.
“But we also need to understand lockdown has a very harmful impact on health. We will have to live as a society with Covid.
“I would hope with the vaccine rollout that deaths will continue to stay low but there will be deaths, I am afraid.”
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