SCOTLAND’S Justice Secretary has indicated that public health officials have been unable to meet follow-up checks targets for overseas arrivals due to a lack of staff.

Humza Yousaf’s position was branded “chaotic” by MSPs on Holyrood’s Health and Sport Committee over a host of issues relating to quarantine rules and enforcement – during a session that convener Lewis Macdonald said it was “striking” that many questions were left unanswered.

Mr Yousaf confirmed that around 16,000 people have been quarantining in Scotland over the last two weeks after more countries such as Spain and France were removed from the list of exemptions – while more than 36,000 arrivals have been required to self-isolate in total.

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The Justice Secretary told the committee that Police Scotland have only handed out one fixed penalty notice for people flouting the rules, the high-profile case of Celtic player Boli Bolingoli - which was labelled “quite frankly ridiculous” by Labour MSP David Stewart.

Mr Yousaf was asked whether targets had been met and therefore “20 per cent of all travellers who entered Scotland since the introduction of the measures have been contacted” amid concerns that not enough communication is being taking place.

Public Health Scotland said that between June 22 and August 16, 686 people required to quarantine and selected for spot checks could not be contacted – while data up to August 5 from Police Scotland showed that only 19 travel registration reports were received from health officials.

At her daily media briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the original target of 20 per cent was “up to a limit of 450 a week” and that the Scottish Government is “looking at the resourcing of that”.

But Mr Yousaf said he “would like Public Health Scotland to get to that 20 per cent” adding that he would “like to understand what the staffing and resourse implications would be” in an attempt to ensure “that it is not a detriment to other parts of the contact tracing operation”.

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He added: “Yes, they are meeting and in many cases exceeding the 450 a week, but that isn’t equating to 20 per cent and we are working with Public Health Scotland to understand the resource pressures that it would put and see if we can get up to that 20 per cent.”

Mr Macdonald asked the Justice Secretary whether it was fair to conclude that “what’s being achieved is 450, the aspiration is for 20 per cent and the reason that you’re not achieving your aspiration is because there isn’t sufficient resource or personnel at the National Contact Tracing Centre to deliver that”.

Mr Yousaf said that “in summary that would be correct”.

He added: “What we would have to do is remove people from other contact tracing jobs in order to do that. “We will have that conversation with Public Health Scotland to see if we can get to that 20 per cent – which I think would give us even more confidence in the measures.”

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf clarifies quarantine remarks amid claims he 'misled' Holyrood over follow-up checks

Mr Yousaf was also pressed over how many people who have been required to quarantine in Scotland have tested positive for Covid-19 – but he stressed that “the figure isn’t published”.

He indicated that he was “certainly not opposed to actively consider whether or not we can publish those figures” but warned that privacy issues remained.

He added: “As with all people testing positive for Covid-19, Public Health Scotland follows up with the contacts that they may have met in recent days – but the figures are currently unpublished.

“The numbers are low so we will work with Public Health Scotland to explore what can be published but also in a way that respects people’s privacy. If the numbers are very low, we have to make sure that we are not inadvertently identifying individuals.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, Willie Rennie, who took part in the committee session, has labelled Mr Yousaf’s position on contacting those quarantining as “chaotic” and branded the targets as “volatile”.

He added: "By this point in the pandemic I would expect this process to be bedded in and operating efficiently.

"Public Health Scotland says contact numbers will be sloping off while the Justice Secretary tells us he'd like to see them rise.

"I'm disappointed he did not come to the committee armed with answers to basic questions. We need clarity about which is correct and what to expect in the immediate future, especially if the pandemic rumbles on for many more months."