Scots have been warned not to book a holiday abroad this summer.
Speaking at today's daily coronavirus briefing, Nicola Sturgeon said even staycations in Scotland or to the rest of the UK were uncertain, urging caution when it came to arranging plans that may not be able to go ahead.
She said: “I have to say no to foreign holidays and travel overseas.
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“Be cautious about booking holidays even domestically. If you want to take the chance it will be okay but I can’t guarantee 100 per cent by the time we get to that date it will be alright to go. It’s the best I can do right now.”
Nicola Steedman, the deputy chief medical officer, added that the situation was rapidly changing, saying “it is an uncertain time.”
She added: “My advice is, if you are booking, even in the UK, make sure there is a refund clause because you might have to cancel. I wouldn’t invest money you can’t get back.”
It comes after a leaked video showed Scotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch warning civil servants not to book a holiday abroad until 2022.
Warning that the country needed to change its perceptions around the number of coronavirus cases, he said Scotland would come out of lockdown “very very slowly”.
He said: “I wouldn't book a non-refundable summer holiday if I were you.
"I might book a holiday in the autumn or Christmas time but even then I'm not entirely sure what the world will look like in terms of freedom of movement.”
He added: “I think we'll be in this version of lockdown for a little bit longer and then gradually – as we came in gradually – we'll go out gradually.
"But it'll be slow - very very slow because we've learned now twice we've learned how quickly it is to go up and how slow it is to come down.”
'We need to be really careful about this'
Nicola Sturgeon also stressed that Scotland will retain its tougher quarantine restrictions even if a UK-wide deal cannot be reached.
The Scottish Government this week unveiled plans that will see every person arriving from overseas at Scottish airports quarantine for 10 days in a hotel.
But the UK Government has said only travellers to England from “red list” countries will have to do so.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously said these measures do not go far enough, and discussions are ongoing with UK ministers to urge them to tighten rules.
However, she said the outcome of that lobbying will have no effect on Scotland’s rules.
Ms Sturgeon told the regular coronavirus briefing on Thursday: “We won’t scale back our own plans.
“If we can’t persuade the UK Government to introduce similar plans, it’s entirely their prerogative to make these decisions, I’m not being critical here. We just have a difference of opinion on this which is fair enough.
“If we can’t persuade them to emulate us then we’ll continue to do what we plan to do, it will just be we have more of a back door vulnerability, and more of one than we would like to have.”
The plans as they stand, which are due to come into force on Monday, mean a traveller could fly to England before then driving across the border to Scotland, potentially avoiding the need to quarantine in a hotel.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said those from red list nations arriving in England will need to quarantine in a hotel, while other travellers should isolate at home.
The First Minister also said Police Scotland could be asked to “do more than what they are doing right now” at the border.
She said: “There may be a combination of things we have to do.
READ MORE: Four key points from Nicola Sturgeon's daily briefing
“Agreements with the UK Government, and also asking the police to do more than what they are doing right now in terms of the checks coming into the country.
“That is still under discussion.”
Later in the briefing, the First Minister said she could not go into further detail about what police may be asked to do because final decisions are yet to be made and operational matters are an issue for Police Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon went on to describe herself as an “internationalist”, adding: “But this is a public health crisis and one of the biggest threats we face as we get the virus under control domestically, as we vaccinate against it, are new variants.
“That’s why we need to be really careful about this.”
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