Critical staff and services in Scotland are to be exempt from self-isolation under a plans from the Scottish Government.
Currently people have been told that they should self isolate for 10 days after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive.
It is understood the scheme will cover people working in fields including health and social care.
Supermarket workers and some airline staff could also be exempt under the plans, however those eligible would have to meet certain criteria to be allowed to avoid staying at home and safeguards would be put in place such as a testing regime, BBC Scotland reported.
READ MORE: Empty shelves: Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's say shortages are temporary
In recent weeks businesses and health boards across the country have been affected by large numbers of workers self isolating after having come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.
The new plan comes after retailers warned of the disruption caused by staff self isolating.
Some health boards have also said they are under pressure amid staff shortages partly due to the number of staff having to self-isolate.
Earlier this month, three hospitals reached 'code black' status due to reaching full capacity because of rising Covid cases.
On Thursday, a Loganair flight was cancelled due to staff self isolating and it is understood that the airline is experiencing a shortage of cabin crew and pilots.
The Scottish Government is expected to make an announcement about the scheme on Friday.
The UK Government has said that from Friday, key parts of the food industry will be allowed to do daily Covid testing instead of asking staff to self isolate.
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