NICOLA Sturgeon has suggested border controls between Scotland and the rest of the UK may be considered to "guard against infection rates rising in Scotland as a result" of them rising elsewhere.
Speaking at the Government's daily coronavirus briefing today, the First Minister said there were currently “no plans to introduce quarantine for people coming to Scotland from other parts of the UK”, but added that they would be required to give the idea consideration if infection rates south of the Border threatened Scotland’s progress in battling the virus.
She said: “If we did see an ongoing divergence between infection rates and levels in Scotland and other parts of the UK, from a public health perspective we would require to give consideration about how we mitigate that and guard against infection rates rising in Scotland as a result.”
READ MORE: Here’s what is actually meant by ‘closing the Border’
Sturgeon added: "We also know that quarantine measures, albeit perhaps on a more targeted basis in future, may become more important in Scotland rather than less as our infection rates fall, since then the relative impact of new cases from outside Scotland potentially becomes greater.
"And the prospect of cases coming in from elsewhere poses a risk - not just to health but also to our economy."
The First Minister’s comments come after Professor Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University, said that in order to eliminate the coronavirus in Scotland without a closed English border, “we have to find the next best solution".
Sridhar said we would “have to obviously have good checks in place for imported cases” such as those that may come from England where “you still have a substantial number of cases”.
It is actually England becoming the outlier
“The latest estimates [of English cases] are 3000 to 4000 from the Office of National Statistics survey a few weeks back, and actually given the opening up and the behaviour since then it’s probably even higher,” she added.
Sridhar said Westminster is running a suppression strategy, aiming to balance the economy and death rate, whereas Scotland is aiming to eliminate the virus altogether, which would then allow the economy to open and flourish.
Asked if it is realistic to have an elimination strategy in one area of the UK and a suppression strategy in another, Sridhar said: “I think we’d like to see [elimination] throughout the UK, all nations, because Ireland and Northern Ireland are also working in a similar way towards elimination.
“It is actually England becoming the outlier and preparing to turn it around and go towards elimination.”
READ MORE: Eradicating the virus will require closing the Border
The Scottish Government introduced a requirement for people coming into Scotland from overseas to quarantine for two weeks on June 8.
Arrivals are required to fill out a form explaining where they will be isolating, with various fines in place for those found breaching the regulations.
Border Force officers carry out spot checks, with fines of up to £480 for giving false information or flouting the quarantine rules.
People believed to be repeatedly breaching the quarantine can be reported to the Procurator Fiscal for criminal prosecution, with fines of up to £5000, although Yousaf said this would be done “as a last resort”.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel