Nicola Sturgeon has denied her government "went too far" by imposing more restrictions over Christmas in response to the Omicron variant.
The First Minister defended her "cautious" approach after the highly contagious type of coronavirus spread across Scotland last month.
Health officials told Scots to cancel Christmas parties and hospitality businesses north of the Border were forced to reintroduce social distancing measures.
That approach put Scotland at odds with England which allowed pubs and restaurants to operate as normal over New Year.
Speaking at First Minister's Questions today, Douglas Ross seized on a comment made by SNP MP Pete Wishart this week in which the veteran Nationalist appeared to agree that Scottish restrictions were excessive.
"He (Wishart) was asked 'has the First Minister introduced too many COVID restrictions over Christmas?' and his response was 'that is a fair point'," Ross said.
The Scottish Conservative leader continued: "He, an SNP member, is saying the restrictions imposed over Christmas were too much.
"Because the First Minister imposed restrictions which had a massive impact on jobs, on businesses, on people's mental and physical health.
"We can now see they weren't needed.
"It was the Scottish public's actions - not the SNP Government's restrictions - that got this right.
"The First Minister has tried to build a reputation for caution during this pandemic - but she was far too gung-ho in imposing extra restrictions last month.
"Will she now accept her government went too far?"
The SNP leader hit back: "The public did comply - they complied with what the government asked them to do.
"I think Douglas Ross is striking a rather desperate note right now if he is seriously describing Pete Wishart, showing, as all elected representatives should, some respect for the point someone was making, as evidence that Pete Wishart agrees with Douglas Ross rather than this government."
The First Minister also insisted her strategy had been backed by the Conservatives' own health spokesman at Holyrood.
"We have taken a balanced approach," she said.
"At the moment, this cautious approach is the one that we should be taking.
"That is my sentiment - but not actually my words. They are the words of Sandesh Gulhane MSP on January 7."
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