A national hunt has been launched to find passengers who shared a plane journey with three people infected with the Brazil strain of Coronavirus who travelled to Scotland.
NHS Grampian head of health intelligence Jillian Evans said a "Scotland-level" search is underway to trace those who shared airspace with the trio, and that extra precautions have been put in place locally.
READ MORE: Everything we know so far about the Brazil variant detected in Scotland
No spread of the virus has been identified, and track and trace teams are now seeking "contacts of contacts" the group may have had.
Ms Evans said that the Brazil strain of the virus was identified on 27th February while the trio were under quarantine after they arrived back in Scotland from Heathrow.
The group flew from South America to Paris before travelling on to London and then Scotland.
READ MORE: Hunt for 'mystery person' infected with Brazil variant
The health chief told BBC Radio Scotland: "Work is ongoing to trace all those who were on the same flights. None of the cases at the time were symptomatic, so that’s good news.
“Doesn’t it just point to the need for really good border restrictions and the process of isolation to come in effect really quickly?"
The group arrived in Scotland just days before the 'quarantine hotel' measures were put in place. Had the scheme already been in operation, they would have been isolated in London as they were coming from a country on the UK's 'red list'.
However, they still had to isolate on arriving in Scotland because of the rules at the time.
Ms Evans said: “They arrived before that happened but they still had to isolate as were the rules at the time.
"These three people isolated together in accommodation that was organised by their employer. So they were quarantined when they arrived."
She added: “What health protection specialists are doing now, locally … as an additional precaution, is they are following up any contacts of their contacts and that’s not standard procedure, that’s going one step further.
“I want to raise awareness that health protection is trying to reassure people in the local area that this hasn’t spread any further and they are monitoring it very closely."
The Brazil variant, also called the 'Manaus strain' is concerning scientists as it may respond differently to the vaccines which have been developed for other strains.
READ MORE: Vaccine fears as Brazilian coronavirus variant hits Scotland
However, Ms Evans said there was no cause for alarm just yet.
She said: “It shares some of the mutations with the variant which was identified in South Africa and what we’re hearing is the concerns - certainly not proven – but the worry that the variant will make the virus more contagious and that it may not respond as well to the current vaccine.
“But it really is early days in that regard. And as we’re hearing, the development of vaccination is evolving all of the time so even if it is the case that this particular variant isn’t as responsive to the current vaccines, it still means there’s some protection.
“But hopefully as the science and the vaccine development progresses we will afford ourselves a much better level of protection at a later stage."
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