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John Swinney has been accused of failing to realise the "urgency" of the need to close schools during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. ‌

The First Minister, who was serving as Education Secretary at the time, was giving evidence via video link to the UK Covid Inquiry today on the impact of the public health emergency on children. ‌

The SNP leader said he had hoped that classrooms could remain open until the Easter holidays in April 2020 to "give us a bit of a firewall" to help slow the spread of the virus . ‌

But Swinney admitted the "situation changed dramatically" during the week beginning March 16 and all schools were closed that Friday.

Clair Dobbin KC, representing the Inquiry, showed Swinney an email sent by the SNP Gove

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