THE UK Government's red list system for quarantining international has been branded "inadequate” by Scotland's Health Secretary following the arrival of the Brazillian variant of Covid-19 in Scotland and England.
Yesterday, three cases of the coronavirus variant, which was first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus, were identified in Scotland and another three were also found in England.
The three Scottish cases were found in asymptomatic passengers who flew into Aberdeen from London Heathrow on Friday.
READ MORE: Everything we know about 'worrying' Brazilian variant as cases found in Scotland
They tested positive while self-isolating and contact tracing of other passengers on the flight is currently ongoing.
Scottish Government adviser, Professor Devi Sridhar of the University of Edinburgh, said in a tweet last night that when the first cases of the new variant were reported that the red list approach "doesn't work" given the cases arriving in England came from connecting flights of countries that are not on the red list.
Why robust testing & quarantine policies are needed for international travel given # of circulating variants. And why just 'red-list' country approach doesn't work (flew from Brazil via Paris & London). Hopefully quickly contained in this instance. https://t.co/AK9rbiNpCb
— Prof. Devi Sridhar (@devisridhar) February 28, 2021
At the Scottish Government's daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh today, Freeman said she agreed with Sridhar’s assessment, saying: “That’s why the Scottish Government has consistently argued that the red list as the sole means of introducing and providing managed quarantine is inadequate.”
She said international travel continues to be the “main area that we seek to persuade the UK Government to take steps on”.
Currently, all international arrivals to Scotland must undertake a period of managed quarantine in a hotel for 10 days upon their arrival. The UK approach is to only impose the managed quarantine on passengers arriving from a "red list" of countries, mainly from South America and Africa.
READ MORE: No new Covid deaths but 386 Covid cases recorded in Scotland in past 24 hours
Freeman said there is no reason to believe that the Brazilian strain of Covid-19 is in circulation in Scotland but efforts to “identify and break any possible chains of transmission” are ongoing.
The Health Secretary told the briefing: "If you were on that flight and have not yet been contacted, you will be contacted shortly, so please wait for that.
“I want to stress that there is currently no reason to believe that the P1 variant of the virus is in circulation in Scotland, however, I hope this summary reassures you that we are doing everything we can and everything necessary to check whether this variant of the virus could have been transmitted within Scotland and to identify and break any possible chains of transmission.”
She added: “We know that current vaccines are effective against the strains of the virus which have already been established in the UK.
“However, more work is required to determine that this remains the case for emerging strains of the virus, such as the one we are highlighting today from Brazil.”
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