Scotlands First Minister- Quarantine Still Necessary for Arrivals from Spain

Nicola Sturgeon has warned Scots not to bypass the restriction by flying to or from an airport in England and to try a “staycation” instead.

An imposed fourteen-day quarantine restrictions for travellers from Spain will remain in force, Nicola Sturgeon has announced, as she confirmed Scotland would provide air corridors with 57 countries on the “reduced-risk” lists agreed by the UK government. However, while Scotland’s first minister approved all the countries rated green on the UK government’s traffic light system, she said shad decided against giving air corridors to Spain or Serbia, countries on the amber list which have a higher prevalence of coronavirus than Scotland.

English holidaymakers will still be able to travel to Spain without quarantining on return when the new travel arrangements come into force from 10 July, the Welsh government has still to decide whether to follow England’s measures. The SNP leader said this was a “very difficult decision” to make, but that it was needed to “protect Scotland as far as possible from a resurgence of this virus in the weeks ahead”.

scottish leaves Spain off the prefered travellers list.
Spanish islands in the Balearics and Canary Islands are also excluded from the list. image credit: Wikipedia

“You cannot get around the need to quarantine in Scotland by flying to or from an airport in England,” Sturgeon said as passenger information from airports such as Manchester will be shared with Scottish public health officials, she added. The UK Government last week published a list of 59 countries around the world which would no longer be subject to quarantine rules. These include most countries in Europe, Caribbean islands, countries in Asia – including Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong – as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Holyrood ministers have now approved this list with the exception of Spain and Serbia.

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Tony Winterburn

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