Scotland will enter a 'transitional phase' when home lateral flow tests stop becoming available, clinical advisor Jason Leitch has said.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland this morning, Professor Leitch said that the removal of the final law regarding covid restrictions signals a new era for the virus in Scotland.
From Monday it will no longer be a legal requirement to wear a face covering in places of worship or while attending a marriage ceremony, a civil partnership registration, a funeral service or commemorative event.
The wider legal requirement for wearing face masks - which applies to shops, public transport and some other indoor settings - will then be converted to guidance two weeks later on April 18.
As some people remain wary of the removal of restrictions, Professor Leitch said his inbox was full of people asking for restrictions to be kept, but "the gains are not worth it yet".
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He added there will 'still be a lot of testing' but that Scotland will move to 'surveillance testing' mid April.
"We will tell you if there is a rise in cases, because we will be doing surveillance testing in respiratory disease" he said.
"The testing is not being removed entirely, remember" he said. "There will still be quite a lot of testing in the country, but the decision has been made by all four governments to reach the same end and that end point is home testing will no longer be available, unless you are a particular group.
"You might be a health and social care worker, or have to access a care home.
Already, pharmacies are being supplied with less testing kits.
He said: "They have stopped providing them so many and often to pharmacies, because that was a UK-wide contract. That delivery contract was gone, but you can still get them online."
The threat level from the pandemic is currently at "medium", but Ms Sturgeon told MSPs she is "optimistic that it will move to being a low threat during the course of the spring".
Recent high levels of infection have "put the NHS under even more severe strain", she conceded.
Speaking about the latest statistics, she added: "The number of people in hospital with Covid reported today - 2,344 - is 39 lower than yesterday.
"But yesterday's figure was the highest it has been since the start of the pandemic. So today's number is still exceptionally high, and significantly above the previous peak of hospital cases, which was 2053 in January 2021."
Professor Leitch added while right now the majority of people with cold and flu symptoms will be 'likely to have covid' he hopes in the summer months it will be more likely to be the 'simple cold or flu'.
But when asked how will anyone know for sure without lateral flow testing at home, he said we won't.
"They won't know for sure" he said.
"That's going to be a real transition for us. That is how we deal with the flu, norovirus, other virus. We don't test when someone has sickness and diarrhea, we stay off work. We know you should stay off work for 48 hours after your symptoms. Not everybody does that, but most people do. That's how we treat norovirus. Now, we have a new virus. It's called covid-19.
"If you have cold and flu symptoms this week, it is likely you have covid, because the numbers are os high the most common disease you could meet is covid.
"Over time that will change.
"If you have cold and flu symptoms just now, you should stay at home and self-isolate."
