Travel quarantine rules will not be changed in Scotland to apply the same exemptions that are now relevant for travellers to and from England.
Speaking at today's daily briefing, Deputy First Minister John Swinney confirmed that the Scottish Government would not be moving to exempt high-value business travellers, sports stars and performing arts professionals, as was announced in England.
UK Government Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Thursday evening that these travellers, as well as journalists and TV production staff, will no longer have to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival into England from 4am on Saturday.
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The exemptions only apply if specific criteria are met, such as the trips creating or preserving at least 50 UK jobs.
However, John Swinney said Scotland will not be following suit.
He said: “As you may be aware, the UK Government last night announced a number of changes to the quarantine rules in England.
“Those changes exempt certain categories of people working in certain sectors from the requirement to self-isolate.
“I want to emphasise that these are changes that apply only in England and that they do not apply here in Scotland.
“The quarantine requirements in this country are unchanged.
“Anyone travelling to Scotland from a place that is not on the exemption list will be required to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return.”
Mr Swinney also added that there had been no changes to the list of quarantine exemptions this week, and urged people to avoid unnecessary overseas travel.
The Deputy First Minister said the Scottish Government will assess the need for “any further sectoral exemptions” at its next review of the international travel regulations, due to be completed by December 14.
In England, individuals will only be exempt when undertaking specific business activity and will only be permitted to meet with others as required by that, the Department for Transport (DfT) said in a statement.
The DfT said sectors such as media and elite sport were also selected for exemption from quarantine as they “require specific, high-talent individuals who rely on international connections”.
The changes are not expected to raise the risk of transmission of the virus within the UK, according to Public Health England.
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