The First Minister condemned the former Chief Medical Inspector earlier this morning as she answered questions following her resignation.

Yesterday evening, Dr Catherine Calderwood resigned from her senior post after it emerged she had flouted government guidelines by visiting her holiday home in Fife on two separate occasions over the past two weeks. 

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After a public backlash, Dr Calderwood profusely apologised then resigned late last night following her actions. 

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Nicola Sturgeon said she understood the nation's anger and admitted Dr Calderwood had made "a big mistake". 

She said: "She made a big mistake, and I understand people’s anger. But equally, changing Chief Medical Officer at this point is not ideal either. My sole focus right now is to get the country through this."

The First Minister added: "I did hope that I could continue to call on her advice and expertise because at this point in dealing with the pandemic continuity of advice - she's somebody who's been immersed in this from the very outset - was important.

"My view then, my view now is that it is far from ideal to have lost (her) at this stage but by last night it became very clear to me that whatever the risk of that was - and I think that was and is a risk - was outweighed by our message being crowded out and undermined.

"People can disagree with my judgments but I hope they can accept that the judgments that I'm trying to make - judgments we're all trying to make in these unprecedented times - are based on good faith.

"All that I'm interested in right now is trying to do the things that best equip me as First Minister to steer the country through this virus and I think continuity of her advice was important in that."

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Dr Calderwood will now work with her team "over the next few days to ensure a smooth transition" to her successor, who Scottish health secretary Jeane Freeman told Good Morning Scotland on Monday would be deputy medical officer Dr Gregor Smith.

Her statement reads: "I am deeply sorry for my actions and the mistakes I have made.

"The most important thing to me now and over the next few very difficult months is that people across Scotland know what they need to do to reduce the spread of this virus and that means they must have complete trust in those who give them advice."