She disclosed this week that Scotland’s omicron wave had actually peaked in the first week of the new year, with case levels now dropping rapidly.

Mr Ross said: “The First Minister imposed restrictions that had a massive impact on jobs, businesses and people’s mental and physical health.

“But 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 restrictions last month. The Government went too far.”

He said her “wrong calls” on restrictions were compounded by her government’s failure to pay compensation that had been promised to affected businesses, with some firms “still waiting for a single penny of support”.

Ms Sturgeon replied: “We’re taking a sensible approach through this, which is why infection levels – though dropping now thankfully in all parts of the UK – are lower in Scotland than they are in England right now. Over the festive period, the numbers of people in hospital proportionately were lower.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but I’m going to continue to take a cautious approach, because, frankly, the price of throwing caution to the wind is not paid by governments. The price of throwing caution to the wind is paid by people across the country in terms of ill health and sadly, in some cases, serious illness and death.”