The impact of Scotland's CV19 restrictions on business and hospitality have been "worth it", First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.
She said she understood the measures had a "very adverse" effect, but told the BBC's Sunday Morning programme that "we're hopefully seeing Scotland firmly on the downward slope".
Restrictions introduced over the festive period are being phased out, with nightclubs reopening and large indoor events resuming from today.
The first minister said the rules made enough of a difference to the spread of the Omicron variant to justify the financial impact.
She added: "That's not me saying I don't understand and agree that those measures had a very adverse affect on businesses. Hospitality throughout the pandemic has been one of the worst-hit sectors.
"But it is not a case of having protective measures and businesses are damaged, or having no proactive measures and everything is fine.
"It is the difference between having protective measures that stem transmission, or allowing transmission to go completely uncontrolled - in which case the impact on business is even greater and even more damaging. "
From today guidance advising adults against meeting up with more than three households at a time will also be scrapped, along with curbs on indoor contact sports.
However longer-running measures such as the use of face coverings on public transport and indoor public places will continue.
Scotland's vaccine passport scheme for businesses and events remains in place. Ms Sturgeon said it helped "as a package of measures" to protect against transmission.