Question reference: S5W-35073
- Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 8 February 2021
-
Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome is of its latest review into border health measures, and whether there will be any changes to the regulations.
Answer
We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last 28 days and have assessed that there continues to be a requirement for the regulations to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard public health in Scotland. The regulations continue to be an important and proportionate part of the Scottish Government response to managing the pandemic.
The role of international travel in bringing in new cases, and the increased risk presented by variants of the virus emerging in other parts of the world, meant we took steps to strengthen regulations in response early in 2021. This included suspending the country exemption process and requiring pre-departure testing of passengers. We intend to introduce additional changes to further enhance our package of border health measures in the course of the next review period of the regulations, including managed isolation of international arrivals.