Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of "misplaced loyalty" to her health secretary after it was revealed shielding Scots were told the wrong date it would safe to leave home.
SNP health secretary Jeane Freeman is facing calls to resign over the blunder which saw some 18,000 Scots receive a letter with an incorrect date.
The Scottish Conservatives has accused Freeman of a "dismal performance" in her handling of the coronavirus crisis.
The Daily Record reported how, as part of lockdown, people who were thought to be at clinically at high risk of coronavirus were placed in a special shielded category.
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This included some 100,000 Scots, but the paper revealed that a letter was sent to almost 18,000 shielding Scots shielding informing them of the wrong date for when they could got outside.
The letter advised them they could leave home as of today, despite the actual date being June 18.
Nicola Sturgeon has now extended the shielding period to protect their health until July 31.
The NHS posted the letter in April, only posting a correction last week after the mistake was pointed out.
Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Jeane Freeman was already on borrowed time before coronavirus hit.
“But as this crisis has unfolded, a number of issues have unfolded on her watch which were completely avoidable, and enough is enough.
“The testing structure under the SNP has been a disaster, to the point where care homes have been left in the lurch, and now she can’t even say when hospital staff will be routinely tested.
“The misplaced loyalty shown by the First Minister to her health secretary is having a negative impact on the NHS.
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“A litany of problems had built up before, not least infection deaths of children at the SNP’s flagship hospital in Glasgow, and the continued unacceptable delays of the new Sick Kids in Edinburgh.
“These have been compounded by a dismal performance during the pandemic too.
“Nicola Sturgeon has to take the blinkers off and find someone who can actually get on top of these problems.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “In April a number of letters were sent by NHS National Services Scotland on behalf of the Chief Medical Officer advising people that they needed to shield until June 8 rather than June 18. This was due to interpretation of when the 12 weeks of shielding started.
“On June 3 Public Health Scotland issued a letter to the 17,967 people affected, explaining that shielding runs until June 18."
