First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is “furious” with herself after she breached Covid rules by removing her face mask at a funeral wake.
Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch was on Good Morning Scotland and revealed that he had spoken to Ms Sturgeon last night about the incident.
In a picture published by the Scottish Sun, the first minister is seen speaking to three women at a wake in a pub, where is she standing but not wearing a face mask.
Mr Leitch said: “I think the first minister knows this matters, I think she’s as furious with herself as some might also be with her.
“We had a brief conversation last night and she’s absolutely mad at this little lapse in concentration.
“It’s so easily done, we live in a completely different world from a year ago, don’t we?”
He insisted that Ms Sturgeon was about to leave the premises but was called back to speak to the women.
Mr Leitch added: “Her mask was off because she was leaving, and then (she went) back in and (had) a little lapse – didn’t put it back on.
“It just reinforces again to all of us the nature of these instructions and this virus, and she is as mad with herself as everybody else.”
The clinical director also highlighted how worried they were about the new variant of the virus.
He said: “We are worried about this new variant, we don’t fully understand it yet, we can’t as the science needs to catch up.
“Nervtag and Sage met yesterday, we have layers of scientists working on this around the clock.
“Right now, it looks as if it is more easily transmitted, it is easier to catch it but it gives you the same disease.
“That is a worry because it increases your R number, even if you follow all the rules so that is why we have had to up the restrictions to try and drive the R number down.”