The Scottish Government has called on UK ministers to "carefully consider" issues over testing and isolation over those entering the country while the SNP demanded changes over health checks during the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes after the Herald on Sunday revealed that more than 8000 visitors a week are continuing to arrive in Scotland from home and abroad without health checks while the nation continues to be in lockdown and undergo social distancing in the coronavirus pandemic, it has emerged.
Joanna Cherry QC MP has written to Home Secretary Priti Patel raising concerns about the Home Secretary's "failure to act", which has meant hundreds of thousands of people have entered the UK without appropriate checks and measures in the months since the pandemic began.
The SNP Shadow Home Secretary called for urgent health checks including virus testing and quarantine measures at the border saying the Home Office must finally bring the UK into line with other countries, where tighter measures are being placed on travel in response to coronavirus.
READ MORE: 8,000 a week still arriving in Scotland – and not one is tested for Covid-19
But the Scottish Government has been less strident in its response saying: “As part of our consideration of what steps would require to be taken to loosen any restrictions on the population, we are conscious of the questions around travel in and out of Scotland at ports and airports.
"As Border Control is reserved to the UK Government, this is primarily a matter for them, in particular to ensure that any restrictions that are put in place cannot be avoided simply by using an alternative airport in England, as opposed to Scotland. We would encourage the UK Government to carefully consider issues around testing and isolation of those coming into the country as part of any measures going forward.”
According to figures provided to the Herald, Scottish airports are only handling around 3% of the over 260,000 passengers that would usually come into the country on a typical week. It still amounts to over 1000 a day.
But the UK government has decided against health checks for people arriving into airports.
South Korea has ten times the population of Scotland but with just 230 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday has 29% of our fatalities. The east Asian nation, with a population of 51.64m, has 1.67% of the death toll of the UK, which has a population of 66.65m.
Video of South Korea's Incheon Airport’s quarantine efforts in early February a month before the coronavirus threat became an official pandemic
A key to the success of South Korea, which was among the first countries to bring the outbreak under control, was a containment strategy that involved stepping up border controls.
Rather than outright bans, South Korea is using widespread testing and technology-enabled tracking to allow people to travel to the country. Mandatory testing and quarantines apply to nearly all arrivals from overseas, including citizens.
South Korea’s Incheon International Airport has 16 open-air testing booths at five locations spread around the airport’s two terminals. They are capable of testing up to 2,000 people a day for Covid 19 — at a pace of testing one person every five minutes.
Commenting, Joanna Cherry QC MP said: "The UK government must urgently introduce coronavirus health checks and quarantine measures at the border for people travelling to the UK.
"It is deeply concerning that the Home Secretary has failed to act - and is still allowing thousands of people to enter the UK without appropriate checks and measures in place.
"Other countries in Europe and across the world have already introduced these measures - leaving the UK as an outlier. The UK government has been far too slow to act and must now step up to prevent an increased risk of transmission.
"For people to have confidence in the UK government's approach, it is crucial they put these long-overdue measures in place and set out how this will form part of a considered exit strategy."
Ms Cherry's letter to the Home Secretary.
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