SCOTLAND could impose tougher Covid quarantines on international travellers if UK measures are too weak, John Swinney has said.
The deputy First Minister told MSPs that “additional supervised quarantine measures” may be put in place if Boris Johnson’s safeguards are deemed to be “at a minimal level”.
Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government wanted to a four-nation approach and would “go at least as far” in requiring some travellers stay in “quarantine hotels” for 10 days.
It comes as the UK Cabinet is split over whether to put all international travellers into hotels or just those from countries with aggressive new variants, such as Brazil and South Africa.
The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement on quarantine measures at 5pm when he hosts the UK daily Covid briefing.
Updating Holyrood on the progress of the outbreak, Mr Swinney said lockdown appeared to be driving down new case numbers, but the position in Scotland “remains precarious”.
Confirming the current lockdown restrictions will stay in place until at least mid-February, he said: “We have engaged with the UK Government for some time on improving border controls and while we have had some discussions on issues such as quarantine hotels.
“We have not yet been sighted on what the UK Government intends to announce or when it intends to announce it. I understand that decision has been deferred to this evening.”
Mr Swinney stressed that “border controls will work best on a four-nation basis”.
He explained: “Otherwise, for example, if Scotland establishes a supervised quarantine regime, and England does not, that could be problematic if unrestricted travel between Scotland and England resumes”.
He went on: “The Scottish Government believes that a comprehensive system of supervised quarantine is required.
“I can confirm the Scottish Government will initially go at least as far as any UK Government announcement in enhancing quarantine arrangements, including through the use of hotels.
“However if these UK restrictions are at a minimal level, we will look at other controls we can announce – including additional supervised quarantine measures – that can further protect us from importation of the virus, and we will set those out next week.”
He announced there had been a further 87 recorded deaths of coronavirus patients and 1,049 new cases diagnosed in the past 24 hours, compared to 752 the previous day.
The latest daily test positivity rate was 9 per cent, compared to 8.6% on the previous day.
The death toll under this measure is now 5,796, while a total of 174,002 people have tested positive in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.
As of 830am, there were 2010 people in hospital with confirmed Covid, down six in 24 hours.
Of these patients, 149 were in intensive care, down two overnight.
Mr Swinney said ministers had “cautious confidence” the lockdown was having an impact, despite the “heartbreaking” death numbers.
He said: “Recent figures should also provide us with cautious confidence that the lockdown restrictions are having an effect.
“In the seven days to Friday January 8, an average of 2,356 people in Scotland were testing positive for Covid every day. That’s 302 new cases for every 100,000 people.
“In the seven days to last Friday that number had fallen from 2,356 to 1,384. That’s approximately 180 new cases for every 100,000 people.”
He went on: “There now seems to be little doubt that the lockdown restrictions are reducing case numbers, rather than simply stabilising them. But case numbers remain far too high.
“In fact, they are still more than a third higher than they were just one week before Christmas.
“Of course, because we have had high infection rates for many weeks now, our NHS is under considerable strain.”
While there was “some evidence that hospital numbers may be starting to stabilise”, he stressed they would take time to fall, and warned that “at the moment any relaxation of restrictions could cause them to increase further”.
He said: “All of this means that although we are definitely seeing signs of improvement, the position in Scotland remains precarious.”
As a result, the Scottish cabinet had decided not to make any changes to the current lockdown measures, with these to remain in place “until at least the middle of February”.
The Scottish Greens said quarantine for international travellers should be extended to people in the community who needed help to self-isolate.
Co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “Limiting the influx of the virus into the country is important, but so too is the effectiveness of the test and trace system.
“Quarantine hotels have been used successfully in other countries.
“For months the Scottish Greens have been asking the Scottish Government to use our hotel capacity to help those who do not have the financial or practical resources to self-isolate.
“The Deputy First Minister acknowledges that most hotel rooms lie empty, so it’s not good enough to say they are still considering it nine months later. It’s time to use them to ensure as many people can self-isolate as possible and drive down the infection rate.”
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