SCOTS will not be allowed to go on holiday in Spain without quarantining for 14 days on returning home.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that from July 10, Scots will be permitted to visit 57 “air bridge” countries on the UK Government’s ‘green list’.
But the First Minister said that she “cannot in good conscience” allow people to return from Spain without self-isolating.
Ms Sturgeon pointed to “real and sustained progress” in suppressing the virus in Scotland so far, but warned over the risk of “important of the virus” having the potential “to do serious harm”.
She added: “Quarantine requirements cannot be immediately lifted from Spain and Serbia.”
READ MORE: Full List: Where Scots can go on holiday this summer without having to quarantine
She said there will not be "a way around" the quarantine rules by flying into English airports, because Scottish health officials will have the details of those who are travelling back into the UK.
Ms Sturgeon said that further “assessment of the current situation” would determine whether to further relax the list of countries, including Spain.
The First Minister said that Scots can return from the green list of countries including Austria, Germany, Malta and Norway as well as some amber countries including France and Greece.
Ms Sturgeon said the differences between Scotland and England’s approach, where all 39 green and 20 amber countries are set for air bridges, is down to the “prevalence of the virus”.
She added that for every 100,000 people in the population in Scotland, officials estimate that 28 have Covid-19 – while the rate is thought to be around 180 in the UK as a whole – meaning that Spain, with a rate of around 330 people per 100,000 has a “significantly higher prevalence” than Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon said: “The rate reported for Spain, while it’s less than twice the rate for the UK as a whole, it’s more than 10 times the estimated rate for Scotland.”
She added: “From July 10 onwards, if you are travelling to Scotland from any of the 39 places the UK has rated as green, we will not require you to self-isolate upon arrival in Scotland.”
READ MORE: Airport bosses hit out at Scottish Government over lack of air bridges
Australia, where the Melbourne area has seen a second spike of the virus, remains on the air bridge list for Scotland as authorities “acted quickly to impose a quick localised lockdown”, Ms Sturgeon added.
She said: “We will also lift quarantine for the countries on the amber list that have a prevalence below or not significantly higher than Scotland. However, unfortunately, we cannot in good conscience, at this stage, lift restrictions on people arriving from Spain because of the significantly higher prevalence.
“We also have concerns about Serbia where a recent outbreak has led neighbouring states to close their borders with that country. The impact of that outbreak will not be seen in the data for a couple of weeks.
“I hope that we will be able to add Spain and possibly Serbia to the exemption list in full or perhaps in part at the next review point – which is on July 20."
The First Minister issued some advice for those hoping to jet off on a summer holiday, asking people to take a cautious approach.
She said: “If you are planning on going overseas on holiday right now, given everything that’s happening and given what we are seeing elsewhere in the world and what we have been through here, I think that’s something people probably want to think quite carefully about right now.
“There is the opportunity to support the Scottish tourist industry by having a staycation instead. But if you are planning to travel then make sure you understand the rules and regulations and uncertainties attached to this – that is just, I’m afraid, the reality of living with a pandemic.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel