Coronavirus: First Minister admits care home transfers may have led to deaths

She explained: “When you deal with something like this, there are no perfect options available to you, you have to do what you think is best, based on the knowledge you have at the time, and that’s what we sought to do.”

She said her “heart breaks” for anyone who has lost a loved one to Covid-19.

Ms Sturgeon was speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing amid growing concern about Scottish Government actions at the start of the pandemic.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman admitted last week that 921 delayed discharge patients - elderly people medically well enough to leave hospital but without somewhere suitable to go - were moved to care homes in March alone.

The transfers took place when the Government was desperate to free up NHS beds in anticipation of a “tsunami” of coronavirus patients.

Around half the 3500 Covid-19 deaths in Scotland to date have been in care homes, leading to fears that the untested hospital transfers took the infection into homes with fatal results for vulnerable residents.

Despite weeks of opposition calls to test all would-be residents for the virus, the Scottish Government did not bring in mandatory testing until April 21.

On BBC Radio Scotland, Ms Sturgeon denied officials or ministers had been reckless.

Asked if she believed that sending more than 900 untested hospital patients into care homes may have been a contributory factor in the crisis, she said: “If I apply hindsight to that, I come to a different conclusion.”

At the briefing, the First Minister tried to row back on the comment, saying she had been speaking “in general terms”.

But she was then reminded that she had in fact been asked specifically about the 921 delayed discharge transfers.

Then asked if patients might have gone into care homes, contracted the virus there and subsequently died, she replied: “I cannot say that for certain. I’m sure that is one thing we will want to absolutely look at and ask very serious questions about.

“But equally nor can I absolutely say that that will not be the case.”

She went on: “Sometimes it feels like politicians like me are sometimes penalised for trying to be open here. We’re dealing with a situation right now that has a lot of uncertainties in it.

“That’s been true from day one and it will continue to be true, and I’m trying to be honest about some of the implications and consequences of that.

“That means, on a whole range of things, not just on this issue, it may be that we would, if we could wind the clock back, we would take different decisions.

“But …. I cannot foresee the circumstances in which we would have concluded that it was right to keep older people who didn’t medically need to be in hospital in hospital while hospitals were filling up with cases of this virus.

“When you deal with something like this, there are no perfect options available to you, you have to do what you think is best, based on the knowledge you have at the time, and that’s what we sought to do.

“We didn’t do nothing to try to protect older people. 

“We put in place a risk-assessed approach and guidance for care homes.

“Now, yes, there may have been different things we would have looked at had we known different things, but at every step of the way we seek to do what we consider best, with the protection of people absolutely foremost in our minds.

“I would rather be dealing with a situation where there are hard certainties at every single stage. It’s a lot easier to do. But that’s not the situation that we have faced here, and it’s not the situation we are facing now with this.”

She added: “For those who have lost loved ones that is , I can imagine, horrendously difficult to come to terms with.

“My heart breaks for everybody who’s lost a loved one as a result of this virus.

“And the assurance I can give them is, just as we have done from day one, we will continue to do the very best we can to protect people.”