 That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a statement by Nicola Sturgeon on Covid-19 update. The First Minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Nicola Sturgeon. First Minister. Thanks, Presiding Officer. I will give an update on the latest Covid situation. As part of that, I will summarise changes to the rules on international travel, some of those take effect tomorrow and others in early October. I will also provide an update on development of the Covid certification scheme ahead of further details being published later this week. First, I will give a summary of today's statistics. At 2,870 positive cases were reported yesterday, 11.7 per cent of all tests carried out. 1,107 people are currently in hospital with Covid, which is 19 more than yesterday, and 94 people are receiving intensive care, three fewer than yesterday. Sadly, a further 18 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. That takes the total number of deaths registered under this daily definition to 8,396. As always, I send my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one. Progress continues to be made on the vaccination programme. As of this morning, 4,160,835 people have had a first dose and 3,813,547 have had both doses. That includes 96 per cent of people aged 40 and over, 74 per cent of 30 to 39-year-olds and 62 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds. As I indicated last week, more than three quarters of 18 to 29-year-olds have had a first dose, so the proportion in that age group becoming fully vaccinated will continue to increase. In addition, 70 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds have now had the first jag. That is 5 per cent of points higher than at this time last week. Additionally, the programme of booster vaccinations is now under way in line with the advice that was received last week from the JCVI. Care home residents started getting booster jags yesterday. From the end of September, people aged over 70 and those on the highest risk list, previously the shielding list, will start to get booster jags. Notification of appointments will be either by letter or from GPs. Vaccinations for 12 to 15-year-olds also started this week. They were available at drop-in centres in six health board areas yesterday and will be available in all mainland health board areas from tomorrow. Appointment letters will be sent next week to all 12 to 15-year-olds who have not already been vaccinated. Parents and carers will be encouraged to accompany their children to appointments. I would again encourage all 12 to 15-year-olds and parents or carers to read the information about vaccination that is available online so that an informed decision can be made about getting the vaccine. Also, any questions or concerns can be raised and addressed with the vaccinators when attending appointments. All of that reflects our determination, as I stressed last week, to make sure that the programme for 12 to 15-year-olds is based on the principle of informed consent. Last week, I indicated that we were seeing early signs that the number of new cases might be starting to fall. I am glad to say that I am even more confident about that now. The early signs that I spoke about last week have become much firmer over the past seven days. Members will recall that, in the week to 28 August, new cases increased by more than 80 per cent. In the week after that, the rate of increase slowed to 11 per cent. Last week, we were able to report that cases had fallen by 12 per cent over the previous seven days. In the most recent week, which is up to the 18th of September, new cases fell further by 31 per cent. That is, of course, a very encouraging trend, in addition. In contrast to previous weeks, the falling cases spread across all age groups, with declines of more than 10 per cent in every age group. One interesting point is that the steepest falling cases have been in the 20 to 24 age group. Cases have fallen by around three quarters in the past three weeks. It is always hard to clearly identify cause and effect for changes like that. Multiple factors may well make a difference, but it is worth noting that a significant proportion of people in this age group received their second dose of vaccine during August and early September, so it is likely that we are now seeing the positive impact of vaccination in that age group, as we have seen it in older age groups previously. In any event, I am very grateful to everyone, organisations, businesses and individuals who have taken extra care in recent weeks to try to halt and then reverse the spiking cases. It does seem that those efforts are making a significant difference. Of course, despite this welcome improvement, it is important to point out that the position does continue to be fragile. New cases remain higher than we would want them to be and still above the previous peak of early July. In addition, universities have been returning for the new academic year and it may be too early for any impact of that to be evident in the data. Although it is also the case, as I set out last week, that universities, colleges and students themselves have been working really hard to reduce the risk of transmission on campus and in student accommodation. More generally, as we move into the autumn and winter, there continues to be a risk, as there is in all countries, that cases will rise again. That is a risk that we must do everything possible to guard against and seek to mitigate as much as we can. The NHS is, of course, already under considerable pressure. As I have indicated many times before, vaccination has weakened significantly, weakened the link between new cases and serious harm to health, but it has not broken that link either here or indeed in any country. The recent surging cases have caused a rise in hospitalisations. On 20 August, there were 312 people in our hospitals with Covid. Today, as I have just reported, there are 1,107. The number of people in intensive care has also increased from 34 on 20 August to 94 today. As we know from past experience, fluctuations in the number of people in hospital tend to lag behind. By around two weeks, any rise or fall in the number of new cases. We would hope that the recent fall in cases will, over the next couple of weeks, start to ease the pressure that Covid is placing on the NHS. Indeed, there is already some evidence that the rise in hospital occupancy is beginning to level off. Today's figure of 1,107 in hospital with Covid is an increase of 43 from last week, but in the previous week, the increase was 259. Given that cases have been falling for more than a week now, we would hope to see a fall in Covid-related hospital occupancy soon. That said, admissions and occupancy remain high and the need to avoid that pressure intensifying is why we need to keep cases on a downward track or at least one of the reasons we need to keep cases on a downward track. It is important to keep stressing this point that looking only at hospitalisations does not take account of the harm that Covid does in other ways, for example through long Covid. The virus, although again retreating somewhat, is still causing health harm to a significant number of people. In addition, NHS staff are dealing with a large number of Covid cases at the same time as they are gearing up for winter and also while dealing with the backlog that has built up during the pandemic. As the chief medical officer highlighted over the weekend, this level of activity is exhausting for those who work in the health service, especially when it follows on from everything that has been asked of them since March last year. Later, I will stress again the need for all of us as individuals to do what we can to get and keep the virus under control, but let me emphasise just now that when we do that, we are not simply protecting ourselves and those who we love from Covid, although that is important. We are also helping those who work so hard in the national health service and we are protecting their capacity to provide care and treatment to anyone who needs it. That should provide all of us with an extra incentive if indeed it is needed to get vaccinated, to test regularly and to keep complying with all of the measures necessary to get and keep the virus under control. Cabinet Secretaries are continuing to engage on all of this with representatives from business, the public sector and wider civic society. I am once again grateful to businesses and organisations for all of the efforts that are being made to follow and promote measures such as the wearing of face coverings, good ventilation and whatever possible continued home working. Those efforts are making a difference. We can see that in the most recent data, so please let's all stick with them for the period ahead. We are also continuing to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of measures on international travel, and that is the first of the two substantive issues that I want to update on today. Last week, the UK and Scottish Governments confirmed that, from 4am tomorrow, eight countries will be removed from the red list. Those eight countries include Turkey, Egypt and the Maldives. These countries will move on to the amber list, meaning that fully vaccinated travellers will not need to self-isolate when they return from those countries. However, people who are 18 or over and who have not been fully vaccinated will still need to isolate for 10 days. We also confirmed that, from 4 October, the range of countries covered by the eligible vaccinated traveller programme will be expanded. At the moment, someone is recognised as vaccinated for the purposes of travel regulations only if the vaccination took place in the UK, the USA or in a country that is a member of the EU or EFTA. However, from 4 October, 17 countries will be added to the list of countries recognised in this way, and they will include Canada, Australia, Israel and New Zealand. That change recognises the reliable standards of vaccine certification that apply in those countries and will make it easier for people who have been fully vaccinated in those countries to travel to and from Scotland. From 4 October, we will also, and again this is consistent with changes that have been made by the UK Government, amend the traffic light system for international travel. The green and amber lists are effectively being merged so that from 4 October there will only be two categories of countries, those on the red list and all other countries. The current amber list rules will apply to all countries, not on the red list. As I mentioned earlier, that means that only people who have not been fully vaccinated and who are over 18 will require to self-isolate on returning from those countries. The UK Government has also announced that for people travelling to and from England, it intends to change the current requirements on taking tests before and after international travel. Scotland, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has not yet taken a final decision on this, although we will do so within the next couple of days. We have real concerns about easing the requirements on tests because we still need to guard against new variants of the virus being imported into the country and also have a way of identifying quickly if a new variant does enter the country. Testing both before someone's departure to travel to Scotland and soon after their arrival here can help us to do that. Without that, we will have much less ability to pick up the presence of new variants. We also believe that the PCR tests and other highly sensitive tests that are currently required for testing are more effective at guarding against the risk of new variants than alternative tests. They are more likely to identify positive tests than most lateral flow tests, although lateral flow devices are, of course, valuable. PCR tests also make it easier for new variants to be sequenced and identified. However, on the other hand, in terms of that consideration, we also fully understand and agree with the desirability wherever possible of adopting a four nations approach to travel restrictions. Of course, we have to recognise the reality, however difficult this may be for us, that if Scotland adopts more stringent requirements than England, then people living in Scotland who want to go abroad may decide to fly from airports based in England. In those circumstances, we would potentially face the economic cost of stricter rules without gaining enough public health benefit to justify that cost. We must weigh up the public health risks of making that change. I will be discussing that further with the chief medical officer, with the pragmatic considerations that I have just frankly set out and the understandable concerns of the travel industry. It is not an easy decision and it will have implications either way. As I indicated earlier, we will confirm our decision in the next day or so. The final issue that I want to provide an update on is the Covid certification scheme. Further details of the scheme will be published later this week. However, I will provide some further information now. Everyone under 18 will be exempt from the requirement to provide proof of vaccination, so too will those taking part in vaccine trials. It is a small number of individuals who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and those who either work at or perform in a venue subject to certification. The scheme will come into force at 5am on Friday 1 October, and it will apply, as previously indicated, to nightclubs and similar venues to live indoor unseated events of more than 500 people, to live outdoor unseated events of more than 4,000 people and to any event of more than 10,000 people. We have been working in recent days to finalise the definition of nightclub and similar settings. I can confirm that our intention is that certification will be required for any venue that meets all of the following conditions. One, that it is open between midnight and 5am. Second, that it serves alcohol after midnight. Third, that it provides live or recorded music for dancing. Fourth, that it has a designated space, which is actually in use where dancing is permitted. Let me stress that certification will be required only if all four of those factors apply. Detailed draft guidance will be published ahead of the regulations, setting out clearly what each sector needs to do. A pragmatic and sensible approach will be taken to each piece of guidance. In legal terms, venues will be required to take all reasonable measures to implement the scheme in plain terms that boils down to using common sense. For example, a venue that has a dance floor operating after midnight and meets the other criteria that I have just outlined will have to operate the certification scheme. However, it will not need to check people coming in for a pub lunch 12 hours earlier—that clearly would not be reasonable. However, by the evening, it would be reasonable to check customers as they arrive. That is what we mean by common sense. A pragmatic approach will be encouraged so that businesses can make sensible judgments. In terms of other practicalities, the NHS Covid status app will be available for download from 30 September. The app will provide a digital record of a user's vaccination status, including a QR code, for each vaccination a person has received. Each of us can already request a paper copy of our vaccination record, with specific features to prevent it being forged. That paper copy also provides a QR code, so anyone who does not want to use the app will be able to obtain and use a paper copy. Once the scheme is launched, anyone going to a venue or event that requires certification will be required to show their vaccine record. The venue staff will either scan or visually check a QR code and the NHS Scotland Covid check app that venues can use is already available for download. At a venue such as a nightclub or at a relatively small event, we expect that it will be possible to check vaccine certificates for everyone in attendance. However, at larger events, organisers will be expected to carry out a reasonable number of checks. We are currently working with businesses and environmental health officers to provide specific advice and guidance on the level of checks that should be considered both reasonable and effective to fulfil the important public health objective of certification. I hope that this information, together with the details to be published shortly, will provide further clarity on how the scheme will operate. However, let me stress that even after the scheme is started, we will keep the operational details under review. We will be prepared to make changes in light of experience and, as, for example, upgrades and improvements are made to the operation of the app. However, we consider it an important part of the overall approach to controlling the virus to have a certification scheme operational soon. As I have underlined, despite the recent fallen cases, the position does remain fragile, the NHS is under sustained pressure and there is a risk that cases will rise again as we enter winter. In our view, a vaccine certification scheme is a proportionate measure that will play a part in helping to reduce transmission risks and to encourage uptake of the vaccine while keeping nightclubs and large events open for business. Indeed, I note that the Welsh Government has also decided to introduce a Covid certification scheme similar to that proposed here in Scotland. Let me close by emphasising again the steps that all of us can take to get and keep the virus under control. First, please get vaccinated if you are eligible and have not yet done so. That remains the single most important thing that any of us can do. Second, please test regularly with lateral flow devices. Those can be ordered through the NHS informed website or collected from a local test site or pharmacy. If you test positive or if you are identified as a close contact or if you have symptoms of the virus, please self-isolate and book a PCR test. Thirdly, please comply with the mitigation still in place, where face coverings in indoor public places such as shops, public transport and when moving about in hospitality settings meet outdoors as much as possible. I know that that will get harder for all of us as we move into autumn and winter but outdoor meetings do remain safer when meeting indoors, open windows wherever possible, try to keep a safe distance from people in other households, especially indoors, wash hands and surfaces thoroughly. All of that makes a difference and, as we can see from the most recent data, it is working. So please stick with it and let's get cases down even further. The First Minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 40 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question were to press their request to speak buttons now. I call Sandesh Gulhane. The SNP Government's vaccine passport scheme, which we opposed, comes into force next week. The First Minister is still finalising guidance and businesses are worried about the impact that this will have on them. Yesterday, more than 40 business groups wrote to the Government with a warning about their testing plan. Despite promises of a reset, it is clear that jobs and businesses are still not the priority of this Government. However, it is a spiralling crisis in our NHS that I want to focus on today. Shocking ambulance waiting times are risking lives, and today's stark figures reveal the worst A&E waiting times on record. The number of patients waiting more than half a day to be seen has almost doubled since last week. That is unbelievable. Half of patients at Scotland's flagship hospital, the Queen Elizabeth in Glasgow, are waiting more than the target time of four hours. Behind every one of those appalling stats are patients and their families who are suffering. However, the First Minister does not think that this is a crisis. Somehow, she will not admit the reality and say that word. Wake up. Scotland's NHS is at breaking point. This is a crisis. Speak to the brave staff on the front line and try to tell us that this is not a crisis. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said today that we are 1,000 acute beds short, 1,000. We have previously offered solutions to increase capacity, but the Government has delayed instead of acting. Warnings have gone ignored, not just for weeks but for years. This cannot just be blamed on Covid. The NHS recovery plan is not cutting it. Since it was published, things have got worse. My colleagues are doing all they can. Nurses, doctors and paramedics are all working flat out. They are overwhelmed. Does the First Minister agree that it is the system that is failing us on the front line, and when will the First Minister publish a real plan to support the NHS through what could be the worst winter ever? Let me run through all those points in turn before I come to the position in the national health service. The member raised issues around vaccine passports and testing, so let me just address those briefly. The situation with vaccine passports is, as I have set out, that it is a proportionate measure to introduce ahead of the winter period, to try to help us to get transmission down and keep it down, to drive up even further than the already high uptake rates vaccination uptake and to do all of that while we keep businesses like nightclubs and large events open for business, rather than have them face the risk of closure again this winter, as they faced last winter. I think that that is a reasonable thing to do. We are working closely with business on the definitions that will apply in order that we hear their concerns and address as far as possible those concerns. I think that that is the right, the proper and indeed the responsible thing to do. The position in England, of course, is not as planned as that. The Prime Minister said in terms last week that he reserves the right to come back and introduce this scheme at any point. We think that it is better to give the clear intention and do the work now to support businesses who will be required to implement that. Secondly, on testing for those travelling to Scotland from other countries and testing when somebody arrives here from other countries, I have tried frankly today to set out the very difficult consideration that arises here. The issue on the one hand is that we have real concerns. The chief medical officer has communicated to me very real concerns about removing the requirement for pre-departure testing and the risk that that gives to us of importing the variants. On the other hand, the concerns of the travel industry of not having an aligned position across the UK, that is the very real consideration that we are trying to weigh up and we will come to a decision in that as I said over the next two days. On the issues of NHS pressures, first of all, I think that I said last week and I will say again today that the NHS is facing crisis conditions as a result of a global pandemic. It is facing crisis conditions here in Scotland and it is facing crisis conditions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The point that I will continue to make, Presiding Officer, is that people working hard across our NHS and people are working incredibly hard, including I know the member himself. Do not need me to worry about what we call it. They need the Government to take the action and provide the support to those on the front line to help them to deal with that pressure. That is exactly what we are doing. Through funding, through increases in capacity, through changes in how the NHS is seeing patients to free up capacity and of course the health secretary will set out later actions that we are taking to support the ambulance service with the difficult job it is doing. Every single day I do believe and consider that this will be the hardest winter that the NHS has faced in any of our memories and therefore my job, each and every day, with my colleagues across Government, is to support those working at the front line and that is exactly what we will do. I start by sending my condolences to all those who have lost their loved one through Covid. Cases remain worryingly high. Covid words are being inundated and sadly many of our fellow citizens are still losing their lives to the virus on a daily basis. Today we are hearing that A&E waiting times are again the worst on record and that is linked to the ambulance crisis. In Glasgow at the flagship Queen Elizabeth university hospital far fewer than half of A&E patients were seen within four hours. That is a national scandal and tragedy, but do not use the pandemic as a cover for government failure. I accept that the pandemic has had a negative impact but there were underlying challenges and failures that predated Covid-19. For months this Government was warned, for months they denied it and it took the tragedy of two families going to a newspaper for this Government to act and all the while patients and their families have been and continue to be failed. So how long will it take to fix the ambulance crisis so that no family is waiting longer than they need? Today at long last we have heard more details of the Covid passport scheme. Still big gaps in the detail, still limited engagement with businesses affected and still limited evidence published on the difference it will make. The First Minister wants to pretend that this scheme is the same one used by the Welsh Government. That is at best disingenuous. The Welsh scheme is either a vaccine or a negative test. I repeat again to the First Minister, making sure that someone is negative going into a venue is more important than whether they have had a vaccine. You can still get the virus and you can still spread the virus even if you have been vaccinated. Let me quote the Welsh First Minister, who said that using a vaccine passport alone raises a series of ethical, legal and technical questions that this Scottish First Minister has still not answered. So when will this Government finally listen to the World Health Organization and finally understand that our route out of this pandemic is yes partly vaccine but is fundamentally testing and tracing both things that this Government has woefully failed throughout this pandemic? First Minister, Anna Sarwar on vaccine passports—I will come on to NHS pressures in a moment—but on vaccine certification, Anna Sarwar has been deeply disingenuous, opportunistic and changes his own go-posts at every turn. A few weeks ago, Anna Sarwar was not asking us to introduce a scheme that either had proof of vaccine or a negative LFD test. Anna Sarwar was asking for only negative tests and not to have proof of vaccine. The reason we do not at this stage intend to include a negative test is for all the reasons that have been set out. Although LFD tests are very important, they rely on self-reporting and at this stage that would, we consider, not be the best approach, but it would also undermine one of the central objectives of the vaccine certification scheme, which is to drive up the uptake rates of vaccine certification. That is the only difference to the scheme that is being proposed in Wales. It applies to exactly the same venues and will apply in exactly the same way. Anna Sarwar does not want people going to events or nightclubs to have the protection of a certification scheme like this, but apparently people who are going to attend Labour conference are to have a scheme like this because it is important that their health gets protected. When Anna Sarwar decides to have a bit of principle or a bit of consistency on this, perhaps he can come to this chamber and expect to be taken seriously in any way, shape or form. On the important issue of NHS pressures—I also say to Anna Sarwar that, of course, there were significant pressures on our national health service before the pandemic, but again, anybody who stands in this chamber and suggests that the pandemic is not the most significant factor impacting on our NHS right now, or that it is not the most significant factor that has impacted on our NHS for years, if not for decades, again, I think lacks some credibility. We need to support our NHS through all the ways that we are doing, the increased funding, the work to increase capacity, the work to reform the patient flows through our NHS so that we reduce the pressure on A and E and reduce the pressure on our ambulance service. All of that is the work that we are focusing on with real action, real solutions and real dedication, and we will continue to do that each and every day to support those working on the front line. Alex Cole-Hamilton Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am grateful that the First Minister has answered my call to exempt those under 18 from the use of Covid ID cards. However, there are arbitrary distinctions being made between businesses that will lead to commercial unfairness. Details of this, which are released to Parliament today, there are several questions. What precisely, for example, does the First Minister expect, by the way, of spot checks for a 50,000-person sporting event? Furthermore, staff are supposed to either scan or visually check QR codes, unless your bouncer is a robo cop. How can venues guard against fraud through visual checking? Can the First Minister not see that she is spending time and money creating a blizzard of new random rules for businesses, while at the same time eroding the fundamental human right to medical privacy? The First Minister No, I don't. I think that people have a right to expect their Government to do everything reasonable and proportionate to protect them from the risk of Covid over the winter to help protect our NHS from the risk of Covid and to do all of that while we keep businesses open and trading. Vaccine certification as countries across Europe are finding out, often going much further than we are proposing to go, can play a big part in doing that, and I think that that is preferable to the alternatives. In terms of some of the detail points, the exemption for under-18s is what we have always indicated would be likely here. In terms of the impact on different sectors, that is exactly why we are taking care with some of the definitions. The definition around nightclub and similar settings is to try to avoid a situation where, for example, pubs operating in the same way as nightclubs, they are not subject to certification, which might do damage to nightclubs that are subject to certification. We are rightly and properly taking time to get those definitions right, similarly with spot checks, to make sure that there is a proportionality about this, so that we are fulfilling two objectives, not putting undue— John Mason to be followed by Craig Hoy. The First Minister said that there have been discussions with businesses. I just wonder if she can say any more about specifically if there have been discussions with the football representatives and the licensed trade representatives. Yes, there have been discussions with licensed trade. There has also been discussions with football organisations and particular football clubs. The feedback from all of those discussions has been very helpful in finalising those definitions. I do not expect that everybody will be satisfied with the finer definitions, but it is important that we get to a broad consensus on as many of those issues as possible. We will continue to do that up to the introduction of the scheme, and, of course, after the introduction of the scheme, where, as I said earlier on, we will be prepared to adapt should experience suggest that that is necessary. Craig Hoy to be followed by Eleanor Whitton. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As the health secretary found out last week, pride comes before a fall. Given the scale of the opposition from business and the public to the Government's ill-conceived and unworkable Covid passports, why will the First Minister swallow her pride and scrap the scheme? On vaccine passports, I really defend those in principle. If you think about where we were last September, we would have been able, with certification to keep businesses open that had been forced to close. That would have been a total game changer, a lifesaver last year, so I think that they are an important part of our repertoire. It is great that loads of events have been working to use them. People have been making the system work. Those are the words just last week of Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister. We are being straight with people that we are introducing those because we think that they can make a difference and we are doing the work to make the system operational. I think that that is preferable than keeping businesses hanging on that maybe they will introduce it and maybe they won't in the way the members' colleagues south of the border are doing. Can I ask the First Minister what advice and supports are available to small businesses and community organisations with regard to introducing ventilation systems to allow where practical the return to work and community groups? Question ventilation is a really important part of what we are doing. We have already made funding available for areas of the public sector in relation to businesses. There is ventilation guidance that has already been made available. We have also established a ventilation expert group to give us further recommendations and advice. One of the things that we are considering over the coming days is whether some funding can and should be made available to help businesses to make any necessary improvements with ventilation and will set out further details of that in due course. Jackie Baillie to be followed by Jackie Dunbar. I'm sure that the First Minister would agree that testing and contact tracing remains an essential tool for suppressing the spread of the virus. In the last few weeks, the number of contact tracing cases that have been completed has dropped. Of those, the number completed within 72 hours is well below the standard of 80 per cent required by the World Health Organization. The average number of contacts per case has also dropped to 1.1, so, basically, they are only contacting the positive case, but none of their close contacts. Can I ask the First Minister whether she considers that this is good enough, and if not, what additional resources will she provide to support the hard-working staff at Test and Protect? The Government will continue to do everything possible and appropriate to support the hard-working staff at Test and Protect. What we are seeing is a system that has been under pressure. Performance is improving. If we look at, for example, the finalised data for the week up to 5 September, 83 per cent of cases, were completed. The provisional data suggested that that was just 55 per cent, in terms of the finalised data for the most recent week. We will see the latest data tomorrow, but over 70 per cent were closed within 72 hours, which is the proxy for the WHO standard. We need to get that higher, and I hope that we will see that higher in the figures that are published later this week and then finalised next week. That is a service that is delivering well for people across the country. It is part of the measures that are now seeing case numbers decline and decline quite rapidly. Let me take the opportunity, finally, to pay tribute to those working in Test and Protect across the country. I call Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Sue Webber. To ask the First Minister what steps are being taken to engage with minority groups and religious bodies to maximise the uptake of the Covid vaccinations within low uptake groups who have yet to come forward for the vaccination. We see uptake rates across all groups in society at very high and much higher than we would have anticipated at the start of the programme. That said, uptake rates vary between different groups, and we have known all along that we need to target particular groups to get uptake levels as high as we want them to be. People in our ethnic minority communities are certainly in that category. A range of steps have been taken in terms of outreach to ethnic minority communities. Also, having vaccination clinics in places of worship—Glasgow Central Mosque, of course, in my constituency—has been a vaccination site for some time now. I know that that has helped to get overall uptake rates high across Glasgow, but particularly in certain communities. We will continue, even as uptake levels are now as high as they are, to make sure that we are going after almost everybody that we can and encouraging those who have not already taken up the opportunity to do so as quickly as possible. We went into this public health crisis with a pre-existing mental health crisis. Having a greater number of people familiar with recognising and providing early support to those with mental health issues is an obvious solution. Recent mental health stats made for grim reading, almost 1,700 children have been waiting for over a year to start treatment with the Royal College of Psychiatrists warning that the number of CAMP psychiatrists has fallen in the past year. In West Lothian, they are struggling to recruit, with waiting times spiralling from a year to open-ended. Does the First Minister agree that people must receive support before they reach a crisis point? If so, what is being done now to provide the support? Yes, I agree with that. We have seen a significant increase in demand for mental health services before the pandemic and, indeed, during the pandemic. Part of that is positive because the stigma associated with mental health is much lower than it previously was, but the pressure that puts on services is intense. Before the pandemic, of course, we were reforming and redesigning mental health services, particularly for children and adolescents. The creation of community wellbeing services, counsellors and schools, for example, to make sure that there were services available for people more quickly before crisis points were reached and that work is continuing. We have seen accompanying that rise in demand increases in the numbers working in mental health services, particularly in CAMP, although I do not underestimate the recruitment pressures that exist across many parts of the national health service and, indeed, many parts of society and our economy right now. We have committed to increasing mental health funding over the lifetime of this Parliament, but the initial increase in funding, partly, is to clear some of the historic waiting times, particularly for children and adolescents. That is an important strand of work that has significant priority, because we know that the pandemic has intensified the impact on people's mental health. That means that we require to ensure that the services are supported to respond appropriately. I am heartened by the roll-out of vaccine booster doses, which will greatly reduce the vulnerability of older people to Covid-19 this winter. Sadly, however, anti-vaxxers, their tone is increasingly hysterical and their accusations of a more ludicrous continue to denounce the vaccination programme and all associated with it. For those in that group who are prepared to listen, can the First Minister please advise the chamber how many lives have been saved so far in Scotland, thanks to the vaccine roll-out? It is not easy—in fact, it may not even be possible—to put a number on lives saved because of vaccination, but there is no doubt in my mind that that number will be significant. We see in the breaking of the link between cases and the numbers in hospital and dying—although both of those are still higher than we would want them to be—that vaccines are stopping people becoming seriously ill and undoubtedly stopping people dying. That is beyond any argument or any doubt. I would say to people who are genuinely worried about vaccination, perhaps because they are reading some of the misinformation that some choose to circulate. Please think about it. Go to a clinic, speak to a vaccinator, raise your concerns, have those concerns addressed and then please get vaccinated. Those vaccines are safe and they are incredibly effective in terms of saving lives and preventing illness. It is the single most important thing that any of us can do to protect ourselves and others. To those who knowingly spread misinformation about vaccines, I have nothing but contempt for anybody in that category. People who do that are not only putting themselves at risk but putting others and the country as a whole at risk. I hope that anybody in that category will think long and hard about the great disservice that they are doing to everybody across Scotland. On the important issue of booster doses of the Covid vaccine for the JCVI priority groups and the tie-in with the winter flu vaccine, can the First Minister clarify when my Cowdenbeath constituents can expect to be informed as to the timing and the location for the booster vaccine and the flu vaccine and how, in fact, they will be informed? That will be done, as indeed the initial programme was partly in relation to age. For older people in care homes, the booster programme has started yesterday. As I said in my statement, for those in the over 70 age group, boosters will start at the end of September and people will be notified either through letter or direct from their GP, as was the case with the original programme. Letters will begin to go out a notification from GP's over the course of the next few weeks. That will be similar for other age groups. One important point that I would ask people to remember is that the JCVI, amidst all of its other recommendations around the booster programme, recommended that there should be a gap of six months between somebody's second vaccination and the booster vaccination. In my own case, for example, that would mean that I would not be eligible for a booster for quite some weeks yet. The timing of that will be done in line with the advice and then with the order of priority, which of course is age and condition based, but people will be notified in a similar way to how they were notified for their first and second doses. The First Minister indicated in her statement that she is yet to make a final decision on whether PCR tests for fully vaccinated people entering the country from non-readless countries will still be required. If the decision is made to change testing requirements for international travel, will the First Minister commit to present members with strong epidemiological evidence to support any such change, given the danger posed by new variants, and can she confirm timescales for the Scottish Government's decision? As I said in my statement, we will aim to make this decision over the next day or so, because we understand how important it is for the travel industry and for people travelling. This is a really difficult decision, and I am going to be very frank. My preference would be for this requirement not to be dropped, at least not immediately anywhere in the UK. For no Government across the UK to do this, but given that the UK Government, as is its right, has decided to drop the requirement for England, that raises inevitable questions for us. It does not take away the health concern that we have about increasing the risk of importation of new variants. The testing requirement for people coming into the country is, I suppose, our best line of defence against that. On the other hand, if that is being changed for England, that raises all of the issues that arise if we don't have a four nations-aligned approach. Some travellers tune from Scotland and will choose to use airports elsewhere in the UK, and that will have implications while perhaps taking away any way the public health benefits that the testing offers. This is not an easy decision. We are trying to weigh up those considerations as frankly and carefully as possible, and we will set out our decision in the next couple of days. I call Bill Kidd to be followed by Daniel Johnson. First Minister, seafarers have played a vital role as key workers throughout the pandemic in maintaining essential supply chains, with many of them having to wait for their first vaccination due to being overseas. Many seafarers are being turned away from drop-in centres for their second dose on the basis of being short of the eight-week second dose window, if only by a few days. One of my constituents had to return to work at sea yesterday without his second dose when he was otherwise scheduled to receive it tomorrow. Vaccinators saying on multiple occasions that no exception would be made for seafarers. First Minister, can you raise the problem with health boards to help to bring about a resolution? Yes, we will raise this with health boards. I think that it may already have been done. Health boards should be vaccinating seafarers. It is the case, and this is an important general point to make. The minimum recommended gap between first and second doses is eight weeks. That has been subject to debate and discussion and controversy over the past months, but we are seeing through the data and the evidence now that that eight-week gap has helped us to prolong the protection of vaccines in a way that a shorter gap might not have done. However, there needs to be flexibility, and in the situation of seafarers, going back to sea, as long as it is within the guidance around the vaccine itself, that flexibility should be shown in a pragmatic and sensible way. I will make sure that that issue is raised with health boards in order that they know that that flexibility should be offered. Defining a nightclub is somewhere serving alcohol after midnight with music and a space where people may dance, runs the risk of catching pubs, bars and restaurants that would not consider themselves as such. In mind, can I ask for a clarification from the First Minister what she means by larger and whether that will be defined? Based on what she has just said, it strikes me that some of those smaller venues that do not consider themselves nightclubs will have to check everybody, where larger venues that consider themselves nightclubs will simply have to spot check. Can the First Minister clarify that point? We would expect that nightclubs would do checks of everybody entering. When we are talking about spot checks, we are talking for significantly bigger, less venues and more events, where there may be thousands of people or several hundred people in attendance. The issue about definition is an important one, but the other side of that is if we do not have a definition of the type that I have set out, then some venues may end up operating almost as nightclubs but without the need for certification when nightclubs have the certification. We are trying to avoid market displacement, which is important for nightclubs. Let me stress that I set out four criteria for a venue—a pub, for example—that is not a nightclub. It would have to meet all four of those criteria before being subject to the certification requirement. That is, I think, the best, the most reasonable and the most proportionate way of proceeding that ensures that nightclubs in particular are not being disadvantaged because some pubs can operate in an analogous way to them without the same requirements that they will be under. We will continue to discuss, as we have been doing, all of the detail of this with the affected sectors. Rona Mackay, to be followed by Finlay Carson. To ask the First Minister if she can advise on updates to guidance on contact tracing following a positive case in schools and registered childcare settings. Test and protect is responsible for the contact tracing that arises out of positive cases in schools. As I said last week in my statement, there are two categories. There are higher risk contacts where the young person or their parents will be notified and asked to isolate pending a PCR test. Test and protect will judge whether somebody is a high-risk contact. For example, if there has been an overnight stay or very close contact or where there are siblings, for example, then those will fall into that category. For lower-risk contacts, letters will be sent where positive cases are identified. There will not be a request to self-isolate pending a PCR test, but advice will be given and a key part of that advice will be a recommendation for the young person or teacher if it is a teacher or member of school staff to do an LFD test before they next go back to school. We have made sure that that is as clear for parents and young people and staff as possible, but it is driven by test and protect and the work that they are doing. Finlay Carson, to be followed by Jo FitzPatrick. Records show that deaths from Covid-19 in Stranraer East are almost four times higher than the rest of Dumfries and Galloway and significantly higher than the Scottish average. The prevalence of poor lung health in the area may be one of the contributing factors. Alongside the fantastic work that the breath project currently carries out in the south-west of Scotland, will the First Minister again commit to revisit my previous request for establishing a centre for excellence for lung health in Stranraer? I'm certainly happy to give that consideration. We will see variations in both case rates and, unfortunately, people dying in different parts of the country. It's not yet fully understood why that is the case, although I'm sure that for quite some time to come there will be a lot of inquiry and investigation into that. It is also the case that Covid has underlined some of the need for other services in particular parts of the country, so I will give consideration to that in the context of that learning in relation to the member's constituency. The First Minister will be aware that some unvaccinated people have expressed concern about the potential to catch and transmit Covid-19 even after having been vaccinated and cited this as a reason for their hesitancy. Will the First Minister offer any further assurances to those who may not yet have taken up the offer of a vaccination that not only protects them but will also help to protect others, including their loved ones? The evidence and the data is clear and becomes clearer all of the time. What is absolutely the case is that vaccination does not eradicate the risk of transmission of somebody getting the virus or passing on the virus, but it does reduce that risk and it reduces that risk quite significantly. Secondly, the data is very clear and the figures that we can see in terms of the weakened link between cases and hospitalisation being vaccinated really significantly reduces somebody's risk if they get the virus of becoming seriously ill or dying from it. Vaccination on both of those counts is very important and very worthwhile. It literally is the most important thing that any of us can do to protect ourselves and to protect those around us. For anybody who has not yet done so, please think again, ask any questions you have got, raise any concerns you have got and then please get jacked because it is really important for you and for others. Ross Greer, to be followed by Emma Harper. Thank you. There have been 80,000 positive Covid cases recorded amongst children aged 14 and other since the beginning of the pandemic. 40,000 of those have been in the last month. I ask the First Minister why some health boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, were unable to provide drop-in vaccinations for 12 to 15-year-olds this past Monday when other health boards were able to do so. Six health boards started with drop-in clinics for 12 to 15-year-olds yesterday. All mainland health boards will have drop-in clinics operational by tomorrow. The island boards, as they did with the main programme, will go about things slightly differently because of their smaller and often more sparse populations. The health boards that didn't start yesterday took a bit more time to make sure that the vaccinators had the information they needed and were prepared, for example, to answer any questions that would help with children and their parents or carers arriving at informed consent. That is really important. If a health board felt that it needed to do that, I understand why. Across all mainland Scotland, drop-in clinics will be operational for that age group from tomorrow. I encourage everybody in that age group, the parents and the carers, to read all the information, ask any questions and to get vaccinated. There remain some people in clinically vulnerable or shielding groups who are still worried about getting the vaccine. We know that the vaccine does not cause a Covid infection. It helps to build up immunity to the virus. Can the First Minister outline what specific targeted action is being taken to support clinically vulnerable people to go and get their vaccine? Can she join me in reassuring everyone that the Covid-19 vaccine is safe? Firstly, it is really important for all of us to be clear and take every opportunity to reassure people that vaccines do not cause Covid infection. Vaccines help to protect against Covid infection. We know—again, the data shows this—that, for people who are particularly clinically vulnerable, a first dose of the vaccine offers protection just as it does to somebody who is not clinically vulnerable. We see high uptake rates among the highly clinical vulnerable group, which used to be referred to as the shielding group. I think that our uptake rates in that group are higher than other parts of the UK, but we continue, as we do across all groups in the population, to try to push the levels of vaccination up as far as possible. However, my message to anybody who has a clinical vulnerability is that it is perhaps even more important. It is important for everybody to get vaccinated but to get vaccinated because it is providing you with that protection against Covid that is so important. I have been contacted by a constituent who attends Dundee University. She attends the library on campus and has to wear a face mask, even though she is more than one metre away from others. She then leaves the library and goes to the student union, still on campus, with the same people but no face coverings are required. Her question to you, First Minister, where is the logic and the science behind that rule? I think that most people understand that there have to be pragmatic and practical decisions taken around the circumstances in which face coverings are worn and not worn. However, the general rule is that we encourage people to wear face coverings in indoor places and the law requires it in certain indoor places. In hospitality, which would include student unions, for example, while moving around, it is a requirement to wear a face covering. One of the pragmatic decisions, of course, is that it is not reasonable to expect somebody to wear a face covering when they are sitting down in hospitality premises perhaps eating or drinking for obvious reasons, but when they are moving around, entering or leaving or going to the toilet, for example, then we do ask people to wear face coverings. It is inconvenient for everybody, I know that, but it is one of the basic and relatively simple ways in which we can all protect ourselves and each other. I appeal to all members to take the time and make the effort to encourage constituents to do that at all reasonable opportunities as part of that overall protection against the virus and, hopefully, one of the things that will help us to keep cases on a downward track. It is encouraging to hear that 12 to 15-year-olds across mainland Scotland will be permitted to attend vaccination clinics to receive their first jag as of tomorrow. However, other parts of the UK are promoting vaccinations within schools themselves, which appears to be a sensible method of getting most young people rapidly vaccinated. Will the First Minister consider consulting with health boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to see whether it is practical to introduce vaccinations within schools in a similar way to BCG and HPV vaccine programmes? We are already in discussions about this, and I set this out last week in the chamber. First, drop-in clinics are the quickest and easiest ways for young people in this age group to get vaccinated. Secondly, for any young person who does not take up that opportunity, they will, over the course of next week, be sent a letter with an appointment. We consider that asking a young person to go to an appointment in a clinic is the quickest and easiest way to get informed consent, because it is easier for their parent or carer to go with them. Thirdly, we will be doing school-based vaccination to make sure that anybody who has not managed to take up one or other of those opportunities gets the opportunity in a school setting. That may be in a school or it may be at hubs around a school premise. All of that is part of the efforts that are under way and will intensify over the coming weeks to get to as many 12 to 15-year-olds with vaccination as possible. That concludes the First Minister's statement, Covid-19 update. I neglected to mention during my question about vaccination that I am still a registered nurse and I am part of the Fries and Galloway's vaccination team, so I apologise.