Humza Yousaf has been called on to explain to the Scottish Parliament his recent remarks concerning the number of children in hospital with coronavirus.
The SNP's new health secretary said on Wednesday that 10 children under the age of nine were hospitalised with the virus.
But medics insisted there was no evidence that new variants were any more harmful to young people, and that parents had no reason to worry about an uptick in cases.
The Tories said today that Yousaf must now apologise.
The health secretary said in a BBC radio interview that 10 children were in hospital "because of covid", but did not explain they may have been admitted to hospital for other reasons before later testing positive for the virus.
He clarified his remarks in a series of messages on social media on Thursday, in which he said: "My main message was to urge caution, not to cause any undue alarm, I regret if that was the case."
He added: "My quoting of these figures was in response to a question about a parent wanting to take their child from a Level 2 area to soft play in a Level 1 area.
"My clear message was please don't take any risks. It certainly wasn't my intention to create any undue alarm."
Yousaf was not present at today's covid media briefing led by Nicola Sturgeon and National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch.
Asked about her health secretary's remarks, Sturgeon said: "Nobody in the government is trying to alarm people.
"We spend almost every day trying to do the opposite and to give people the best assessment of risk that we possibly can without alarming them."
She added: "The risk to children is very low. But we wouldn't have soft play centres closed at a certain level if we didn't think there was any risk."
The Scottish Conservatives have now called on Yousaf to give a "straightforward apology" and to offer a "full explanation" of his remarks to parliament.
Party leader Douglas Ross said: “Today’s Covid briefing should have taken place in the Scottish Parliament.
“By going on the BBC instead, Nicola Sturgeon dodged scrutiny from opposition parties on Humza Yousaf's scaremongering.
“Parents deserve upfront honesty from the SNP Government, not days of spin over child hospitalisations.
“Instead of admitting Humza Yousaf’s comments were misleading and alarmist, the Deputy First Minister and now the First Minister have made up excuses to defend him.
“As justice secretary, Humza Yousaf irresponsibly pre-judged a police inquiry and failed in his duty to calm tensions, not heighten them.
“Now as health secretary, after just a few weeks in the job, he has already been side-lined for irresponsibly frightening parents and failing in his duty to prevent panic, not create it.
“The lack of a straightforward apology and correction is unacceptable. We will be seeking to call him before the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday for a full explanation.”
Dr Steve Turner, a paediatrician at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, said yesterday: "As it stands there are very few children in hospital in Scotland and across the whole of the UK due to covid.
"We're not seeing any evidence of an increase in paediatric admissions with covid. "A very small number of admissions who test positive for covid is what we'd expect."
The doctor, who is a registrar with the Royal College of Paediatrics, added: "Our experience over the last 15 months is that many children who test positive have come into hospital for something else, like broken bones.
"At the moment the situation in the UK is stable. The number of children in hospital with covid remains very low.
"Children’s wards are not seeing a rise in cases with covid. Parents shouldn't worry."
