Coronavirus in Scotland RECAP: First Minister gives Covid update at Holyrood | Nicola Sturgeon hails reduction in hospital cases | FM says Scottish Government wants to get Glasgow back on track ‘as quickly as possible’ | Scottish Greens leaders apologise after Covid breach | Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock respond to Dominic Cummings’ attacks on them

Matt Hancock also told MPs: “Since last January I’ve attended this House over 60 times. With the Prime Minister we have together hosted 84 press conferences, I’ve answered 2,667 contributions to this House and answered questions from colleagues, the media and the public – and we’ll keep on with this spirit of openness and transparency throughout.”

The Health Secretary added: “Sometimes what we’ve had to say hasn’t been easy. We’ve had to level with people when it’s been tough, when things have been going in the wrong direction.

“And also we’ve learned throughout. We’ve applied that learning both to tackling this pandemic and making sure that we’re as well-prepared in the future as possible.

“Beyond all this, what matters remains the same – getting vaccinated, getting tested, delivering for our country, overcoming this disease and saving lives, and that is what matters to the British people.”

Matt Hancock added in the Commons: “Every day since I began working on the response to this pandemic last January, I’ve got up each morning and asked: ‘What must I do to protect life?’

“That is the job of the Health Secretary in a pandemic.

“We’ve taken an approach of openness, transparency and explanation of both what we know and of what we don’t know.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: “These allegations that were put yesterday – and repeated by (shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth) – are serious allegations and I welcome the opportunity to come to the House to put formally on the record that these unsubstantiated allegations around honesty are not true.

“I’ve been straight with people in public and in private throughout.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “What we’ve done to handle this coronavirus pandemic has been unprecedented in modern times.

“Throughout, we have been straight with people and straight with this House about the challenges that we as a nation face together.

“The nation, in my view, has risen to these challenges.

“Of course there were unprecedented difficulties that come with preparation for an unprecedented event.

“But this pandemic isn’t over yet. Our vaccination programme has reached 73% of the adult population, but that means that more than a quarter still haven’t been jabbed. 43% of adults have had both jabs, but that means that more than half are yet to get the fullest possible protection that two jabs gives.

“Yesterday we saw 3,180 new cases of coronavirus, the highest since April 12, but, thanks to the pawer of vaccination, in which I have always believed, the link from cases to hospitalisations and to deaths is being severed.”

The leaders of the Scottish Greens have apologised for breaching coronavirus restrictions.

Co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie, and MSP Ross Greer, were pictured in a bar in Edinburgh with another man, breaching rules where only three households can meet inside.

The picture, which was published by the Scottish Sun, was taken on Tuesday, the same night First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a meeting with Greens leaders had been held on a possible formal co-operation agreement with the SNP.

The bar, on the city’s George Street, is just yards away from the First Minister’s official residence at Bute House – where Ms Sturgeon said the meeting took place.

A statement from the leaders said: “We attended a work-related meeting in a venue in central Edinburgh on Tuesday evening, where the three-household limit was not upheld.

“This was an honest mistake, we’re kicking ourselves and we apologise unreservedly.”

The First Minister announced on Wednesday she was seeking to take discussions with the Greens to the next stage, which could result in a formal co-operation agreement.

Ms Sturgeon even said Green MSPs could become ministers in the Scottish Government, in a move she hopes would be “potentially groundbreaking”.